 |
| |
|
 |
 |
 |
International Roundup FIFA president Blatter to stand down in 2006Posted: Thursday October 24, 2002 12:00 PMUpdated: Thursday October 24, 2002 1:07 PM ZURICH (Reuters) -- Sepp Blatter has said he will stand down from his role as FIFA president in 2006. Blatter, who will be 70 in 2006, said in an interview with the December issue of Sports Business magazine that he would leave at the end of his second four-year term as the head of soccer's world governing body. "I have said I am in the second half of the football game," Blatter told Sport Business. "From the very beginning I said my presidency will not be more than two mandates. "I am now in the second mandate and at the end of it I will be 70 years old. I think it will be the correct time then to leave the organization." Blatter was re-elected in May on the eve of the World Cup Finals in South Korea and Japan, defeating Cameroon's Issa Hayatou, the head of the Confederation of African Football. He said he would begin considering a suitable replacement in 2004, the year in which FIFA celebrate their 100th anniversary. "Let me go first to the 2004 centenary festivities and then at that time I will be able to foresee who should or could be in such a position," Blatter added. Blatter overcame accusations of financial mismanagement and corruption to win his second term in office, but the Swiss said his conscience was clear. "I don't mind how I am seen," he said. "I don't care." "I would have done the job according to my conscience, according to the mission I have received from the congress in 1998 and 2002 and I will do it the best I can." Trinidad welcomes Warner's return, hires coachPORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) -- FIFA Vice President and CONCACAF President Jack Warner announced his decision to return to the local soccer scene as a special adviser to Trinidad and Tobago's soccer federation. Warner will also serve as chairman of the federation's appeals committee, he said during a Wednesday news conference. He will continue his duties at FIFA and CONCACAF. "For the record, Jack is back, in local [soccer]," he said. In July, Warner severed ties with the sport in Trinidad after a dispute over government funding for the federation with Sports Minister Roger Boynes of the governing People's National Movement party. Warner is among the main financial supporters of the opposition United National Congress party, which was defeated Oct. 7 in general elections. He visited the sports minister on Wednesday to iron out their differences. "I assured him of my fullest support for the betterment of sports in Trinidad and Tobago in general and [soccer] in particular." Warner was the major supporter of soccer in the Caribbean twin-island country until October 2001 when he pulled funding, saying he wanted to consolidate his finances. He said he spent about Trinidadian $20 million (US$3.3 million) on the sport annually. Warner didn't say Wednesday whether he would resume funding the sport from his personal finances. The soccer federation on Wednesday also named a new technical director and national team coach, Hannibal Najjar. He helped lead Belhaven College in Jackson, Mississippi to an NAIA title in the 1990s. Najjar replaces interim coach Jamaal Shabaaz, one of 114 members of the Muslim group Jamaat al-Muslimeen who staged a failed coup attempt in 1990. Shabaaz, appointed in September and currently the women's national team coach, never coached a game for the men's team. The announcements came the same day Trinidad's FIFA ranking dropped from 47th to 52nd. Indonesia drops top strikers from training teamJAKARTA (Reuters) -- Indonesia coach Ivan Kolev sprung a major surprise by dropping leading strikers Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto and Ilham Jayakusuma from his training team on Thursday. The Bulgarian trainer, however, insisted that the duo were not ruled out for the Tiger Cup tournament being co-hosted by Indonesia. "They are out for the time being but they could be back when the time is right," said Kolev on the Asian Football Federation Web site. The other players axed were Warsidi and Nova Arianto, leaving 24 players training for the event which will be held in Singapore and Jakarta in December. Kolev is looking at the likes of Bambang Pamungkas, Jainal Ichwan, Gendut Doni, Budi Sudarsono and Zaenal Arief to lead his strikeforce. Gendut proved himself as a prolific striker in the previous Tiger Cup by finishing joint top scorer with Thailand's Worrawut Srimaka. Croatia U-21 international Popovic killed in car crashZAGREB (Reuters) -- Croatian Under-21 international Danijel Popovic of FC Osijek was killed in a car crash in eastern Croatia, police said on Thursday.A police report said the 21-year old striker probably drove too fast and lost control of his car near the eastern town of Osijek, causing a crash in which another person was seriously injured. Popovic started his professional career in the second division Vukovar '91, where he was the league's top scorer with 22 goals in just half a season. He briefly moved to French club Bastia but returned home to join first division Osijek at the end of last season. Popovic recently won a place in the national under-21 team, scoring one goal in Croatia's 3-1 victory over Estonia in a European championship qualifying match in September. Aarau striker Okpala joins Al Jazeira on loanAARAU, Switzerland (Reuters) -- FC Aarau striker Chris Okpala has joined United Arab Emirates side Al Jazeira on a three-month loan deal, the Swiss Nationalliga club announced on Thursday. Nigerian forward Okpala, 26, has made just one appearance for Aarau this season and will stay with Al Jazeira until the end of January. Okpala joined Aarau from FC Thun for the 2001-02 season.
Reuters contributed to this report. |
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||
