January 1996
FEATURE STORIES
- TALKING POINT: Nothing ventured, nothing gained
- From Conakry via Neskaupstadur to Riyadh: a game without boundaries
- FIFA World Player 1995: Results of Vote
- How the 95 national coaches voted
- FIFA/Coca-Cola Ranking: Mexico back in the top ten
IN THE NEWS
- Conditions for FIFA competitions with age limits:
- Revised Players' Agents Regulations now in force
- UN50: 109 associations joined in
- Spain are Europe's first indoor champions
- FIFA Upset over Bosman decision
- Announcements, Suspensions and Flash
Editorial deadline for this issue: 25 January 1996
TALKING POINT:
NOTHING VENTURED NOTHING GAINED
A remark about bigger goals made during an interview towards the end of last year has unleashed a deluge of comment - much of it admittedly negative, as speculation about possible experiments was rapidly inflated by the media to declarations of imminent radical change. But nothing happens that fast as far as modifications to the Laws of the Game are concerned.
Let's put the record straight: when the International Football Association Board meets in Rio in March [ agenda | decisions ], it may authorise FIFA to conduct experiments with larger goals over the next couple of years or so. But the Board may turn down the idea of experiments, and even if it gives the go-ahead, there is absolutely no certainty that they will lead to anything definite in a few years' time.
The sceptical or at times even outraged reactions admittedly came as no great surprise. But any idea which may be introduced in a few years' time has to be put to the test today, in order to gain a clear impression of its likely adoption.
To those who criticise FIFA for tinkering too much with the rules, we may point out that relatively few of the recent experiments have actually been adopted while the discontinued experiments have affected only a tiny proportion of the football community. Meanwhile those which have proved worthwhile (such as the back-pass rule, the ban on tackling from behind and passive offside) have won widespread approval.
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.
Innovation for the sake of it never was the object. But all innovation needs experimentation. Let's wait and see the results before jumping to conclusions.
Joseph S. Blatter
FIFA General SecretaryReturn to Table of Contents [TOC]
CONDITIONS FOR FIFA
COMPETITIONS WITH AGE LIMITSPlayers who have so far only taken part in the preliminary rounds of the under-17 and/or under-20 world championships and/or the Olympic Games are free to play in the preliminary and final rounds of any FIFA competitions which are subject to age limits.
The existing provisions (cf. circular no. 527 on 11 February 1995), however, continue to apply. In other words, even if a player were eligible from the point of view of age, he may not:
- play again in a preliminary or final round of a FIFA competition subject to an age limit once he has already appeared in a previous final round of such a competition;
- take part in either the preliminary or final round of a FIFA competition of a younger age category if he has already appeared in the final round of a previous competition with a older age category.
Return to Table of Contents [TOC]
REVISED PLAYERS' AGENTS
REGULATIONS NOW IN FORCEThe revised regulations for players' agents entered into force on 1 January 1996. When amending the text, the Players' Status Committee took initial experience with the rules into account and incorporated proposals from associations and other experts.
Among the most important amendments is the provision that the associations are free to introduce such a licence at national level. As mentioned in the FIFA News 12/95, the associations may issue their own regulations (preamble and art. 22) for players' agents who deal with transfers within the association concerned, regardless of whether the players are nationals of the country concerned or foreigners working there. What is more important is that the clubs involved in the transfer of the player must belong to the same association. To grant national licences, the associations will have to follow the same procedure as that for international licences (interviews with the candidates etc.). They must also demand a bank guarantee for at least CHF 50,000 issued in their favour.
The definition of representatives permitted to act as agents was modified in art. 1, General Matters, so as to include members of the lawyers' association in the country where a player or club is domiciled; these will now be entitled to act as agents even without a licence. Only natural persons may request a licence and not organisations or clubs (art. 2).
As regards bank guarantees, an exception will be made for players' organisations that are officially recognised by the association on whose territory they operate. These organisations may have a bank guarantee issued in their name covering the licence risk in respect of three of their bona fide members. The three members must, however, have passed the interview with the association as well. Anybody who is employed by FIFA, a confederation, an association or a club, directly or indirectly, is prohibited from acting as a players' agent (art. 4).
So far, FIFA has issued one hundred licences at the request of the associations. The complete list is available from the FIFA general secretariat. New players' agents will continue to be announced on the last page of the FIFA News.
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UN 50:
109 ASSOCIATIONS JOINED IN
One hundred and nine associations joined in the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the United Nations all around the globe with all sorts of football activities. The international crew locked in the space station, Mir, added to the universal atmosphere of the event on 9 December; even though they were not exactly kicking the ball about in space, they still chose to discuss football rather than scientific studies.
The Norwegian association launched the celebrations on behalf of everyone involved by staging indoor football tournaments throughout the country. 7,500 youngsters between the age of 8 and 16 joined in the activities. The opening ceremony in the Ekeberghall in Oslo was broadcast live by the national channel, NRK. Thanks to the associations' hard work and commitment, football once more demonstrated its powers of unifying peoples for a worthwhile cause.
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SPAIN ARE EUROPE'S
FIRST INDOOR CHAMPIONSSpain can now claim the honour of being the first indoor champions in Europe. The squad from the host and organising country of the third World Championship, due to be played between 24 November and 8 December, came top after a 5-3 win in the final (2-1 half-time) against Russia in Cordoba. Belgium came third by defeating Italy 3-2. Ukraine landed in fifth place by beating the Netherlands 4-3. These six teams have thus qualified for the World Championship (full results on page 6).
Return to Table of Contents [TOC]
612 "A" internationals last yearFROM CONAKRY VIA NESKAUPSTADUR TO RIYADH:
A GAME WITHOUT BOUNDARIESTo kick off with, a game between the West African neighbours of Guinea and Sierra Leone in Conakry, then the North European derby between Iceland and the Faroe Islands in Neskaupstadur in the middle of the year and, to round things off, a repeat of 1994 with a match in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh where the hosts beat Kazakhstan: international matches in 1995 knew no boundaries.
The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking comes up with a variety of statistics every year; the evaluations for 1995 are explained in the following article. The list of 612 internationals is available from the FIFA Communications Division [fax +41 (1) 384-9696] or from FIFA On-Line.
The trend for an increased number of matches from one year to the next was again true of 1995 with more and more "A" internationals being held every year. The figure in 1995 was 612, the second highest number of international matches ever in the space of twelve months. Only 1993 topped this record with even more internationals as a result of the countless preliminaries for the 1994 World Cup.
What is remarkable about this figure is not so much the actual amount. In previous years, the number of international games used to dwindle immediately after football World Cups (cf. diagram A). But 1995 excelled the year before, hinting strongly that 1996 will witness yet another increase as a result of the innumerable continental championships and the imminent preliminaries for France '98.
DIAGRAM A If we split the matches into categories, friendlies and continental qualifiers take up the lion's share with almost half each, while the small remainder is attributable to Copa America (cf. diagram B).
Seen geographically, the European associations lined up against one another, as in 1994, in one third of the entire matches while one quarter was taken up with African encounters (cf. diagram C). Owing to the relatively large number of continental competition matches, the share of intercontinental games diminished slightly compared with 1994.
DIAGRAM B DIAGRAM C Victories, goals, home and away matches, opponents' strength and the category of game (competitive or friendly) are the fodder for the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking. It therefore comes as no surprise that four out of five of the matches awarded the most points were contested in continental competitions (preliminaries and finals) - apart from one friendly in which Peru managed to glean as many points by romping around Chile:
With the exception of Japan, the most active teams in 1995 came from Latin America and the Caribbean. Contrary to 1994, no association played more than 20 internationals in 1995. Brazil, Japan and Jamaica contested 18; Colombia one less; Argentina, Mexico, Uruguay and Mali each played 16 (cf. diagram D). Of the teams that played at least 15 games in 1995, only Turkey emerged unbeaten after 15 games (9 wins, 6 draws) although Brazil also remained undefeated at the end of normal playing time in a total of 18 matches.
DIAGRAM D
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FIFA
. . . RESULTS OF THE VOTE
A full report will appear in the February edition of the FIFA Magazine PLAYER POINTS 1 2 3 1. George Weah (Liberia) 170 25 13 6 2. Paolo Maldini (Italy) 80 9 10 5 3. Jurgen Klinsmann (Germany) 58 6 6 10 4. Romario de Souza Faria (Brazil) 50 8 3 1 5. Roberto Baggio (Italy) 49 8 2 3 6. Christo Stoitchkov (Bulgaria) 37 4 5 2 7. Ivan Luis Zamorano (Chile) 36 4 4 4 8. Osvaldo Giroldo Junior Juninho (Brazil) 28 3 3 4 9. Matthias Sammer (Germany) 23 2 4 1 10. Michael Laudrup (Denmark) 20 1 4 3 11. Gianfranco Zola (Italy) 20 2 3 1 12. Gabriel Batistuta (Argentina) 18 2 1 5 13. Jose R. Gama de Oliveira Bebeto (Brazil) 17 2 2 1 14. Marc Overmars (Netherlands) 16 1 3 2 15. Dejan Savicevic (Jugoslavia) 13 1 2 2 16. Jari Litmanen (Finland) 12 2 - 2 17. Fernando Ruiz Hierro (Spain) 12 1 2 1 18. Franco Baresi (Italy) 11 - 3 2 19. Fabrizio Ravanelli (Italy) 11 1 2 - 20. Alessandro Del Piero (Italy) 10 1 1 2 21. Gianluca Vialli (Italy) 9 1 1 1 22. Ronaldo Luis Nazario de Lima (Brazil) 8 1 1 - 23. Anthony Yeboah (Ghana) 8 1 1 - 24. Krassimir Balakov (Bulgaria) 6 - 2 - 25. Dennis Bergkamp (Netherlands) 6 - 1 3 26. Frank de Boer (Netherlands) 6 1 - 1 27. Enzo Francescoli (Uruguay) 6 1 - 1 28. Allan Shearer (England) 6 - 2 - 29. llya Tsymbalar (Russia) 6 1 - 1 30. Daniel Amokachi (Nigeria) 5 1 - - 31. Vitor Manuel Martins Baia (Portugal) 5 1 - - 32. Zvonimir Boban (Croatia) 5 1 - - 33. Carlos Roberto (Brazil) 5 1 - - 34. Edgar Davids (Netherlands) 5 1 - - 35. Marcel Desailly (France) 5 - 1 2 36. Russel Laiapy (Trinidad) 5 1 - - PLAYER POINTS 1 2 3 37. George Hagi (Romania) 4 - 1 1 38. Davor Suker (Croatia) 4 - 1 1 39. Faustino Hinestroza Asprilla (Colombia) 3 - 3 - 40. Tomas Brolin (Sweden) 3 - 1 - 41. Erik Cantona (France) 3 - 1 - 42. James S. Debah (Liberia) 3 - 1 - 43. Stefan Effenberg (Germany) 3 - 1 - 44. Luis Felipe Madeira Coeiro Figo (Portugal) 3 - 1 - 45. Vincent Guerin (France) 3 - 1 - 46. Miguel Angel Nadal (Spain) 3 - 1 - 47. David Nakid (Trinidad) 3 - 1 - 48. Paulo Sousa (Portugal) 3 - 1 - 49. Gheorghe Popescu (Romania) 3 - 1 - 50. Frank Rijkaard (Netherlands) 3 - - 3 51. Emmanuel Amunike (Nigeria) 2 - - 2 52. Finidi George (Nigeria) 2 - - 2 53. David Ginola (France) 2 - - 2 54. Ryan Giggs (Welsh) 2 - - 2 55. Aldair Nassimento Santos (Brazil) 1 - - 1 56. Japhet N'Doram (Tschad) 1 - - 1 57. Angus Eve (Trinidad) 1 - - 1 58. Andrzej Juskowiak (Poland) 1 - - 1 59. Marc Keller (France) 1 - - 1 60. Brian Laudrup (Denmark) 1 - - 1 61. Joe Nagbe (Liberia) 1 - - 1 62. Viktor Onopko (Russia) 1 - - 1 63. Luboslav Penev (Bulgaria) 1 - - 1 64. Toni Polster (Austria) 1 - - 1 65. Michel Preud'homme (Belgium) 1 - - 1 66. Hege Riise (Norway) 1 - - 1 67. Rui Costa (Portugal) 1 - - 1 68. Barjuan Esclusa Sergi (Spain) 1 - - 1 69. Ciriaco Sforza (Switzerland) 1 - - 1 70. Andoni Zubizarreta (Spain) 1 - - 1 Note: There were awarded five points for the first, three points for the second, and one point for the third place.
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HOW THE 95
NATIONAL COACHES VOTED
NATIONAL COACH FIRST SECOND THIRD Neptun Bajko (Albania)
Daniel A. Passarella (Argentina)
Samuel Darbinyan (Armenia)
KazbekTuayev (Azerbaijan)
Edward Thomson (Australia)
Abdur Rahim (Bangladesh)
Paul van Himst (Belgium)
Edme Codjo (Benin)
Dusan Draskovic (Bolivia)
Mario Jorge Lobo Zagalo (Brazil)
Traore Idrissa Malo (Burkina Faso)
Dimitar Penev (Bulgaria)
Xabier Azkargorta (Chile)
Qi Wusheng (China)
Rojas Gamboa Zubio (Costa Rica)
Richard Muller-Nielson (Denmark)
Berti Vogts (Germany)
Pierre Pleimelding (Cote d'Ivoire)
Terry Venables (England)
Roman Ubakivi (Estonia)
Allan Simonsen (Faroe)
Billy Singh (Fiji)
Jukka Ik„l„inen (Finland)
Aime Jacquet (France)
Alexander Tschiwadse (Georgia)
Kostas Polichroniou (Greece)
Koo Luam-Khen (Hong Kong)
Guus Hiddink (Netherlands)
Hassan Habibi (Iran)
Asgeir Eliasson (Island)
Shlomo Sharf (Israel)
Arrigo Sacchi (Italy)
Prof. Rene Simoes (Jamaica)
Shu Kamo (Japon)
Izzak Hamzeh (Jordania)
Bob Lenarduzzi (Canada)
Berdalin Strik (Kazakhstan)
Mohamed Kheri (Kenya)
Meklis Koschaliew (Kyrgyzstan)
Miroslav Blazevic (Croatia)
Janis Gilis (Latvia)
Terry Yorath (Lebanon)
Wilfred K. Lardner (Liberia)
Dietrich Weise (Liechtenstein)
Benjaminas Zelkevicius (Lithuania)
Paul Philipp (Luxemburg)
William Martins Leite (Macao)
Claude Le Roy (Malaysia)
Pietro Ghedin (Malta)
Henri Michel (Morocco)
Jean Michel Benezet (Mauritius)
Andon Doncovski (Mazedonia)
Velobor Milutinovic (Mexico)
Ion Caras (Moldowa)
Bobby Clark (New Zealand)
Bryan Hamilton (Northern Ireland)
Egil Olsen (Norway)
Herbert Prohaska (Austria)
Josef Venglos (Oman)
Ladislao Kubala (Paraguay)
Juan Carlos Oblitas Saba (Peru)
Henryk Apostel (Poland)
Antonio L. A. Ribeiro Oliveira (Portugal)
Cris Vaccaro (Puerto Rico)
David Mackay (Qatar)
Anghel Iordanescu (Romania)
Oleg Romantsev (Russia)
Giorgio Leoni (San Marino)
Rose M. de Almeida Barros (UAE)
Craig Brown (Scotland)
Tommy Svensson (Sweden)
Roy Hodgson (Switzerland)
Ulric Mathiot (Seychelles)
Roger Palmgren (Sierra Leone)
Josof Jankech (Slovakia)
Zdenko Verdenik (Slovenia)
Mohamed Ahmed (Somalia)
Javier Clemente (Spain)
Jorge Fiorfra (Sri Lanka)
John In Jacques (St. Lucia)
Anatoli Byschowets (Korea Rep.)
Armando Ferreira (Swaziland)
Gerard Kautai (Tahiti)
Huang Jen-Chen (Taiwan)
James L. T. Fasi (Tonga)
Zoran Vranes (Trinidad)
Dusan Uhrin (Czech Rep.)
Fatih Terim (Turkey)
Henry Kasperczak (Tunisia)
Kalman Mesz”ly (Hungary)
Hector Nunez (Uruguay)
Steve Sampson (USA)
Bobby Gould (Wales)
Serguei Borovsky (Belarus)
Andreas Michaelides (Cyprus)Maldini
Davids
M. Laudrup
Weah
Maldini
Klinsmann
Baggio
Romario
Zamorano
Bebeto
Romario
Stoitchkov
Zamorano
Batistuta
Baggio
Sammer
Klinsmann
Maldini
Baggio
Zola
Stoitchkov
Amokachi
Litmanen
Weah
Zola
Romario
Romario
Weah
Weah
Overmars
Litmanen
Maldini
Bebeto
Carlos Roberto
Weah
Juninho
Stoitchkov
Weah
Klinsmann
Boban
Weah
Juninho
Weah
Weah
Weah
Savicevic
Baggio
Weah
Maldini
Maldini
Weah
Stoitchkov
Batistuta
Sammer
Maldini
Weah
Tsymbalar
Zamorano
Weah
Baggio
Zamorano
Ronaldo
Baia
Juninho
Weah
Weah
Weah
Del Piero
Romario
Maldini
Weah
Baggio
Vialli
Weah
Yeboah
Weah
Weah
Hierro
Baggio
Romario
Ravanelli
Klinsmann
Weah
Baggio
Romario
Laiapy
Weah
Romario
Maldini
Weah
Francescoli
Klinsmann
Klinsmann
Weah
De BoerWeah
Maldini
Vialli
Overmars
Weah
Juninho
Weah
Baggio
Savicevic
Ronaldo
Stoitchkov
Balakov
Hierro
Klinsmann
Romario
Zamorano
Sammer
Baresi
Del Piero
Maldini
Asprilla
Shearer
M. Laudrup
Desailly
Weah
Weah
Juninho
Zola
Ravanelli
Maldini
Weah
Zola
Brolin
Weah
Del Piero
Weah
Romario
Yeboah
Stoitchkov
Suker
Klinsmann
Ravanelli
Debah
Sammer
Effenberg
Weah
Cantona
Maldini
Weah
Weah
Maldini
Balakov
Weah
Maldini
Weah
Batistuta
Zamorano
Sammer
Klinsmann
Stoitchkov
M. Laudrup
Savicevic
Figo
Zamorano
Klinsmann
Popescu
Bebeto
Overmars
Baggio
Romario
Zamorano
Maldini
Juninho
Klinsmann
Klinsmann
Zola
Maldini
Nadal
Maldini
Baresi
Paolo Sousa
Hagi
Guerin
Bebeto
Baresi
Nakid
Sammer
Maldini
Overmars
Bergkamp
M. Laudrup
Stoitchkov
Shearer
M. Laudrup
HierroDel Piero
Batistuta
Overmars
Sammer
Juninho
Vialli
Finidi
Weah
Juninho
Aldair
Hagi
Penev
M. Laudrup
Stoitchkov
Bebeto
Litmanen
Weah
Weah
Klinsmann
Klinsmann
Zola
Batistuta
Rijkaard
Maldini
Klinsmann
Giggs
Klinsmann
Klinsmann
Juninho
Rijkaard
Suker
Weah
M. Laudrup
Litmanen
Stoitchkov
Finidi
Onopko
Amunike
Tsymbalar
Desailly
Zamorano
Klinsmann
Nagbe
Bergkamp
Baggio
Overmars
Preud'homme
Klinsmann
Del Piero
Desailly
Savicevic
Sergi
Savicevic
Weah
Francescoli
Klinsmann
Riise
Polster
Hierro
M. Laudrup
Batistuta
Juskowiak
Rui Costa
Maldini
Baresi
Maldini
Maldini
Baresi
Juninho
Batistuta
Batistuta
Sforza
Klinsmann
Rijkaard
Bergkamp
Zamorano
N'Doram
Zubizareta
Giggs
De Bowr
Klinsmann
Amunike
Keller
Romario
B. Laudrup
Eve
Bergkamp
Zamorano
Weah
Baggio
Maldini
Baggio
Ginola
Zamorano
GinolaReturn to Table of Contents [TOC]
ANNOUNCEMENTS
- The Libyan association has now fulfilled its obligations towards a number of third parties (cf. News /95) so FIFA has now lifted the suspension it had imposed. The UN embargo (concerning flights to and from Libya) still stands as FIFA has no say in this matter.
- The Somalian association wishes to make it clear that only Farah W. Addo (President) and Yasin Abukar Arif (General Secretary and Treasurer) are entitled to sign correspondence and official documents on behalf of the association.
SUSPENSIONS
- The players, Igor Kurek and M. Matejka (Slovakia), have been suspended for two months and fined CHF 2,500 for misconduct during the game between Slovakia and the USA at the Universiade in Fukuoka on 30 August 1995. The committee censured the team coach, Peter Benedik, and fined him CHF 5,000.
- The players, Igor Kurek and M. Matejka (Slovakia), have been suspended for two months and fined CHF 2,500 for misconduct during the game between Slovakia and the USA at the Universiade in Fukuoka on 30 August 1995. The committee censured the team coach, Peter Benedik, and fined him CHF 5,000.
- The FIFA Disciplinary Committee also imposed a fine of CHF 10,000 on the Brazilian association, CBF, for breaching the Regulations governing the Status and Transfer of Players. CBF had repeatedly charged fees for issuing international transfer certificates in clear contravention of art. 9, par. 3 of the Regulations.
FLASH
- Israel and France were the winners in the Israeli association's traditional winter tournament at the end of last year. The hosts came up trumps in the under-18 category, followed by Greece and Hungary while the French teams carried off the under-16 honours ahead of Israel and Switzerland.
FIFA Competitions
Copyright © 1996 Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Derechos reservados.
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