FEATURE STORIES

• EDITORIAL: Good Resolutions
• Potluck in Paris for World Cup Contenders

• Asian Football Confederation
• Confédération Africaine de Football
• Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football
• Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol
• Oceania Football Confederation
• Union of European Football Association

• FIFA/Coca-Cola Ranking: Substantial shifts on the lower rungs
  

IN THE NEWS

• Invitation to the FIFA Congress
• Bosnia and Herzegovina in the World Cup Preliminaries
• Kick off for new football regulation
• Suspensions
• FIFA Upset over Bosman decision
• Rune Hauge loses his license for good
• Match replays and the use of video recordings as evidence
• Brazil - team of the year
• Jamaica - best mover of the year for 1995
• Klinsman, Maldini and Weah take top honours
• German football is in mourning

EDITORIAL:
GOOD RESOLUTIONS

The 1995 calendar was already busy enough even before the year began, with three world championships on the programme. But that was only the start of it, as one of these three events had to be re-located at short notice. Nevertheless, all three events were a great success, just as was the Prague Symposium and the World Cup Preliminary Draw in Paris.

At the same time, FIFA initiated a new generation of communications and information technology, the General Secretariat was reorganised and plans forged with the city of Zurich for an extension of the headquarters, a World Youth Fund created and a new cooperation with the organisation SOS Children's Villages introduced, the groundwork completed for a football research department at the University of Neuchâtel, progress made in sports medecine, and the world's largest and most prestigious collection of football memorabilia acquired for posterity.

Even these were only some of the projects taken on during the past year. And throughout much of the twelve months, we gave priority attention to discussion of the future of football and its global administration. This open debate reflected FIFA's concern for the welfare of our sport beyond the end of the century, a turning point which is approaching at ever quicker pace.

But important as this exchange of opinions may be (with spirits invariably far calmer than the media often like to imagine them to be), we must still always remain alert to the dangers which threaten our sport from outside the sporting circle: cheating, corruption, racism, violence, drugs... sad reflections of our modern society in general. To tackle these unwholesome influences, FIFA has used the turn of the calendar, a time traditionally associated with hopes for peace and good resolutions, to introduce a Code of Conduct for Football which we hope will become permanently engrained into everyone's way of thinking.

It is in the spirit of this Code of Conduct, reproduced on this page, that I express my most sincere good wishes for the year ahead to everyone, everywhere, involved in the great worldwide family of football.

Dr. João Havelange President of FIFA	Joseph S. Blatter FIFA General Secretary

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INVITATION TO THE FIFA CONGRESS

As required by the Statutes, on 15 December the FIFA general secretariat sent out the invitations for the 50th FIFA Ordinary Congress which will be held in Zurich on 3 and 4 July 1996. The opening ceremony is scheduled for the afternoon of Wednesday, 3 July 1996.

In compliance with Article 13.3. of the Statutes, any proposals or questions that member national associations wish to put to the Congress must be sent in writing to the FIFA general secretariat no later than four months before the date of the Congress, i.e. by 3 March 1996. The provisions of Article 15.2. of the Statutes stipulate that every proposal for an amendment to the Statutes from a national association must be seconded by two others. Pursuant to Article 13.2. of the Statutes, the agenda and enclosures must be sent to the national associations two months before the opening of the Congress, i.e. no later than 3 May 1996.

National associations that are in a state of suspension at the time of the Congress and those which have not complied with Article 43.3. of the Statutes (obligation to compete in FIFA competitions) will not be entitled to vote at the Congress.

Each national association is entitled to send up to three delegates to the Congress. With regard to the costs for travel and accommodation, the 1992 Congress amended the Statutes as follows: “The Federation shall bear the costs of travel and accommodation for one delegate from each association taking part in the Congress.

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BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA IN THE WORLD CUP PRELIMINARIES

1. The Executive Committee conceded to the request of Bosnia and Herzegovina to be allowed to enter for the preliminaries of the 1998 World Cup (cf. the article on the World Cup draw).

2. Malaysia was reconfirmed as the host of the 1997 World Youth Championship for the FIFA/Coca-Cola Cup.

3. Lack of time prevented the Executive Committee from dwelling on the proposals of the presidents and general secretaries of FIFA and the confederations with respect to the Vision I and II documents. The matter was consequently referred back to the working party of the general secretaries for further consideration.

4. FIFA is paying a great deal of attention to the question of refereeing becoming a full-time profession in countries that run professional leagues and intends to push ahead with the implementation of this idea.

5. The Executive Committee took note of a report by the Sports Medical Committee referring to the current high incidence of serious knee injuries and will be issuing recommendations in this connection. The medical aspects of playing football at high altitude will also be subject to review. The recommendation was made that no matches be played at altitudes exceeding 3,000 m. above sea-level. Given that the South American confederation is most directly affected, they have been requested to carry out a medical survey and to propose what steps would be appropriate.

6. The 1995 Fair Play Prize is to go to the French player, Jacques Glassmann. It was mainly because he had the courage to speak out and risk alienation that the lid was taken off the Valenciennes/Marseille bribery affair.

7. The traditional FIFA charity match between the reigning world champions and a world selection will be staged in the Giants Stadium in New York/New Jersey on 14 July 1996. The proceeds will be donated to the SOS Children's Villages charity organisation with which FIFA aims to forge a long-term partnership.

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POTLUCK IN PARIS FOR WORLD CUP CONTENDERS

The general consensus after the draw was that it will certainly not be a walkover even for teams that boast an outstanding record. Both smiles and frowns were to be seen depending on the luck of the draw. The Bosnia and Herzegovina delegation was all smiles anyway even before the draw started, having just been given the green light by the FIFA Executive Committee to join in the draw. As fate would have it, this association was the third from the former Yugoslavia to be drawn into group 1 where they join two of their neighbours, Croatia and Slovenia.

A murmer went through the hall when Italy was drawn into the same group as England. Group 2 and some of the other European groups promise a number of thrilling clashes; for instance between arch rivals, the Netherlands and Belgium, who face each other again for the 7th time in the World Cup preliminaries.

In Africa, after the withdrawal of Mali, Morocco became the fourth team to go through into the next round on a bye. As chance would have it, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau will virtually be playing a local derby. Asia will be turning in a new direction inasmuch as the participants in the first phase of the preliminaries will no longer be grouped geographically. This means that Saudi Arabia, for example, a squad that already has World Cup experience, will be competing against three opponents from East Asia (Malaysia, Bangladesh and Taiwan). What is more, the team which comes fourth in the Asian qualifiers will have to compete for a slot with the winner of Oceania.

South America was exempt from the draw because the nine competing squads will each be playing twice against all the others along league-system lines. CONCACAF is quite another matter: the geographical situation and the widely diverging potential of the CONCACAF participants means that some of them will have to struggle through no less than five rounds before they can clinch a coveted ticket to France.

To relieve the qualifiers of unnecessary problems in arranging their match fixtures, the confederations will be consulted about the recently drafted international match calendar before all the final details are put in place prior to its ratification. As was mentioned previously, 16 dates have been set aside for the World Cup qualifying games.

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WORLD CUP FRANCE 1998
PRELIMINARY COMPETITION

FIRST ROUND
The 36 participating teams have been divided into 10 groups (6 groups of 4 teams + 4 groups of 3 teams). Each group will decide on the system of play it wishes to apply.

SECOND ROUND
The 10 group winners will be divided into two groups of 5 teams. Each group will play a tournament (league system in which each team plays one match against the others in the group) in one or two neutral countries.

THIRD ROUND
The winner and the runner-up in each group will qualify for the semifinals.

The two semifinal winners will play the final match and also qualify for the final competition of World Cup France '98.

The two losing teams will compete in a 3rd place play-off, the winner of which will qualify for World Cup France '98. The losing team will play against the winner of OFC for a place in the final competition of World Cup France '98 (home and away matches).

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FIRST ROUND
Of the 36 participating teams, 4 were exempted from the first round: Cameroon, Nigeria, Morocco and Egypt.

SECOND ROUND (home and away matches)
The second round will include the participation of 20 teams (the 16 winners of the first round + Cameroon, Nigeria, Egypt and Morocco).

These 20 teams will be divided into 5 groups of 4 teams each.

The draw will be held after the first round, once the teams qualifying for the second round are known.

The winner of each group will qualify for the final competition of World Cup France '98.

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The 30 participating teams were divided as follows: 6 teams having previously participated in a World Cup final competition (Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico and USA), 19 teams from the Caribbean zone, to which was added the remaining team from the northern zone (Bermuda) and 4 teams from the Central American zone (Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama).

CARIBBEAN ZONE
FIRST ROUND
A first round will be played so as to reduce the number of teams from 20 to 16. In order to achieve this, in Paris at the Preliminary Draw, the last 8 teams (Caribbean) were split into two pots (1 and 2) each containing four teams based on the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking dated 21 November 1995.

Each team will play a home and away match. The 4 winners will qualify for the second round.

SECOND ROUND
A second round will be played so as to reduce the 16 teams to 8.

Each team will play home and away matches. The teams in pot 4 will play their first match at home. The 8 winners will qualify for the third round.

THIRD ROUND
A third round will be played so as to reduce the number of teams from 8 to 4. The 8 winners of the second round will play home and away matches. The draw for these matches will be organised at a later date.

The 4 winners will qualify for the semifinal phase.

CENTRAL AMERICAN ZONE

The two winners will qualify for the semifinal phase.

SEMIFINAL PHASE
The semi-final phase includes 12 teams: 4 from the Caribbean zone, 2 from the Central American zone, the 2 World Cup USA '94 finalists (Mexico and USA) and 4 teams having already participated in a final World Cup competition (Canada, Honduras, Costa Rica and El Salvador - based on the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking).

The 12 teams were divided into 3 groups of 4 teams as follows:

FINAL PHASE
The three winners of the semifinal phase and the three runners-up will be put into one group in the final phase (6 teams, 10 matches per team, home and away matches).

The three teams coming in 1st, 2nd and 3rd will qualify for the final competition of World Cup France '98.

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The 9 participating teams will play a qualifying tournament in which each team plays 16 matches, for a total of 72 matches.

The top four teams qualify plus Brazil as defending world champions.

The fixtures for this tournament are as follows:

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Of the 10 teams participating, 4 are exempt from the first round: Australia, Fiji, New Zealand and Tahiti.

FIRST ROUND
League system in which each team plays a match against the other teams within the same group.

The winner of Melanesian group will qualify for the second round. In addition, the winner of the match between the winner of the Polynesian group and the runner-up of the Melanesian group will also qualify for the second round.

SECOND ROUND (two groups of three teams)
Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Tahiti, the winner of the Melanesian group, as well as the winner of the match between the winner of the Polynesian group and the runner-up of the Melanesian group will be divided into two groups of three teams each. Each group will play according to the league system in which each team plays two matches against each of the other teams in the same group.

The two group winners will qualify for the third round.

THIRD ROUND
The winner of group 1 and the winner of group 2 will face-off playing one home match and one away match.

The winner will qualify to play against the team coming 4th in the AFC preliminary competition (home and away matches). The winner will qualify for the final competition of France '98.

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The 9 group winners and the best runner-up will directly qualify. The 8 other runners-up will be drawn in 4 pairs and play qualifying home and away matches. The 4 winners will qualify for World Cup France '98.

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KICK-OFF FOR NEW FOOTBALL REGULATION

The footballs must carry one of three markings - "FIFA APPROVED" as the highest quality level or the "FIFA INSPECTED" designation or the certified "International Matchball Standards" denomination which is a technically equal standard to FIFA INSPECTED - indicating that they have been tested and comply with the required norms. This new measure should make life easier for referees.

The testing and marking of footballs is the first major step towards a wider FIFA Denominations licensing programme, designed to ensure that use of the distinctive and universally-recognised FIFA emblem and the words "FIFA APPROVED" and "FIFA INSPECTED" are reserved for footballs - and ultimately other technical equipment - that fulfil specific quality standards and technical requirements. Referees of FIFA and Confederation matches will simply have to ensure that the ball carries one of the three marks and that the pressure is correct, rather than having to check weight, circumference and other technical criteria.

The FIFA Denominations programme is being developed and implemented by ISL Worldwide, FIFA’s exclusive marketing partner. One of the biggest tasks facing FIFA and ISL is the need to communicate the new system - and its benefits - to more than 700,000 referees around the world.

"We need to convey to the world of football - and especially to referees - what the FIFA designations mean" says Deputy General Secretary, Michel Zen-Ruffinen. "As football is the world's biggest structured sport, this is no minor task. We need the help of each and every national association to communicate effectively with the referees in their country".

The testing criteria are tough, but they have been set by the industry itself. Only the best products pass the test, which means that the new standards are worthwhile and meet FIFA's objective of ensuring worldwide consistency in the standard of footballs used for FIFA matches.

22 leading manufacturers of footballs have already signed agreements for testing and recognition of their products. These include adidas, Attack Sports, Capital Sports, Cosco, Football Thai Factory, Forward Sports, MC Sport, Mikasa, Mitre, Molten, Penalty (Cambuci), Prima Sports, Pro Touch (Intersport), Puma, Ram Sportswear, Reebok, Rucanor, Select, Tachikara, Tramondi, Umbro, Valle Sport.

Historically, there have been incidences of misuse of the FIFA emblem but, now, any unauthorised use of the FIFA Mark and endorsements will be subject to legal action in the interests of both FIFA and its licensees.

The specific requirements for the category INSPECTED (equal to International Matchball Standards) and for the superior category APPROVED, with higher criteria levels, are:

FIFA INSPECTED FIFA APPROVED Weight Weight Circumference Circumference Sphericity Sphericity Loss of Pressure Loss of Pressure Water Absorption Water Absorption Rebound Rebound Shape & Size Retention Test

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SUSPENSIONS

1. The Togo FA has been banned with immediate effect from the Olympic Football Tournament Atlanta '96 for contravening the age limit rules in the preliminary competition. They have also been banned from the preliminary competition for Sydney 2000 as well as being fined CHF 10,000. The player at fault, Abdoul Hazim Mohamed, has been suspended worldwide for one year and fined CHF 2,500.

2. The Bermudan player, Janeiro Tucker, has been suspended from all footballing activity and fined CHF 2,500. Tucker insulted the referee with obscene gestures after being sent off in the Olympic qualifying match between Costa Rica and Bermuda on 6 August 1995.

3. The General Secretary of the Turkmenistan FA has been cautioned and fined CHF 5,000 for blatant ungentlemanly conduct at the Olympic qualifying match on 15 October 1995 against the United Arab Emirates.

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FIFA UPSET OVER BOSMAN DECISION

FIFA will now ascertain what modifications this verdict will entail for UEFA as regards the 18 (out of 50) European associations affected by it.

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RUNE HAUGE LOSES HIS LICENSE FOR GOOD

At its 9th December meeting, the Players' Status Committee ratified certain amendments to the current regulations in order to optimally adapt them to FIFA's requirements and those of the other parties concerned (associations, clubs, players and agents). The revised version has now gone to print and will be ready for distribution at the beginning of 1996. One of the major changes is the introduction of a domestic licence for agents operating purely at a national level exclusively with players who are citizens of the relevant country.

By means of circular 571 sent out on 4 December, FIFA notified the national associations of the sanctions that will be taken as of 1st January 1996 against clubs and players who disregard the terms of the aforementioned regulations. As of 1 January 1996, licensed agents will be able to consult FIFA regarding any problems they encounter with the clubs with which they are negotiating on behalf of players they represent. In such event, FIFA will, start proceedings against the clubs as is done at present in disputes between players and clubs. FIFA will also intervene directly in contractual negotiations between agents and players.

In all of the aforementioned cases, FIFA will only intervene if requested to do so by a national association. In other words, should clubs, agents or players wish FIFA to intervene as regards their contracts, they must do so via the national association of the country in which they operate. However, FIFA may obviously only intervene if the disputes submitted are of an international nature.

As stated in our circular, as of 1st January 1996, FIFA will systematically intervene against clubs and players who, after that date, continue to make use of the services of agents who have not been licensed by our organisation. FIFA will intervene whenever it becomes aware of an infringement to the regulations, be it on information received from national associations, clubs, players or licensed players' agents or when a dispute is submitted for consideration. As of 1st January 1996, players who employ the services of a non-licensed agent will be sanctioned pursuant to Art. 16 of the regulations governing the activities of players’ agents. This means that players risk:

1. a fine of up to CHF 50,000. - and/or

2. a disciplinary suspension of up to 12 months, - or have to accept negative consequences within the framework of any dispute which might have been submitted to FIFA.

1. suspension of their officials - and/or

2. a fine of up to CHF 100,000. - and/or

3. a temporary ban on conducting transfers, domestic and/or international - and/or

4. suspension from all football activities, domestic and/or international

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MATCH REPLAYS AND THE USE OF VIDEO RECORDINGS AS EVIDENCE

It was emphasised that video evidence is to be used solely as additional proof in disciplinary cases; for example to decide on how severe the sanction should be if the referee's position on the field rendered it absolutely impossible for him to judge the situation, or if there is doubt about a player’s identity. Furthermore, the International FA Board and FIFA reiterated their strong objection to match results being altered due to alleged errors made by the referee (based on the use of video evidence), as some national associations have done recently.

According to Law V, factual decisions taken by referees with respect to the game are irrevocable. The cancellation of a match and non-observation of a referee’s decision of fact constitute a breach of the Laws and the FIFA regulations and will be subject to punishment in accordance with the list of disciplinary measures.

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BRAZIL - TEAM OF THE YEAR

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JAMAICA - BEST MOVER OF THE YEAR FOR 1995

In the approaching qualifying competition for the 1998 World Cup, the odds are that Jamaica will thrust their way through into CONCACAF's semifinal phase, or perhaps even into the finals.

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KLINSMAN, MALDINI AND WEAH TAKE TOP HONOURS

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GERMAN FOOTBALL IS IN MOURNING

The former longstanding General Secretary of the DFB, Horst Passlack, passed away on 5 December at the age of 76. Passlack had been in charge of the DFB administration from 1962 to 1983, winning great recognition for his services to both German and international football. Teaching aids

The Scottish Football Association has issued a new version of its popular teaching aid to the Laws of the Game. The teaching package contains presentation folios and six videos with excerpts from 1994 World Cup matches to illustrate the 17 Laws of the Game. Further information can be obtained from: The Scottish Football Association, 6 Park Gardens, Glasgow, Scotland. Phone: +44-141/332 6372. Fax +44-141/332 7559.

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