FIFA and INTERPOL have launched a series of e-learning programmes aimed at educating players, coaches and referees on the dangers of match manipulation to help them avoid becoming victims of this threat to football integrity.
The online programmes, each focusing on a different group often targeted by match-fixers, offer an interactive guide on how to recognise, resist and report attempts at match-fixing and related issues. The programmes are available in five languages (Arabic, English, French, Spanish and German) on both the FIFA and INTERPOL websites.
FIFA Security Director Ralf Mutschke says that the programmes represent a key deliverable of the FIFA/INTERPOL initiative, which aims to improve awareness and understanding of corruption in football, and the methods to detect and counteract it.
“FIFA and INTERPOL are placing huge importance on combatting match manipulation as it continues to threaten the integrity of football,” said Mutschke.
“One of the keys to success is raising awareness within the football community and providing educational tools for the people most at risk of being influenced by match-fixers. For the first time, football has a widely accessible resource that presents match manipulation-related issues in a practical, targeted and visually stimulating way.”
The e-learning modules are highly interactive, using quizzes, games and audio-visual elements helping to emphasise the key messages. Real-life scenarios are also incorporated to help users more easily identify the tactics that match-fixers might use to pressure them into manipulating a match.
“With the launch of our comprehensive e-learning modules, the football community now has a tool to help protect the sport against threats posed by organised criminal networks which seek to make an illegal profit through match manipulation,” said Michaela Ragg, Assistant Director of INTERPOL’s Integrity in Sport unit.
“By educating the players, coaches and referees who are at high risk of being coerced into fixing a match, we hope the e-learning programmes will equip them with the knowledge and ability to resist these approaches and protect the integrity of the sport,” she concluded.
The programmes are designed to be used by FIFA’s member associations as part of their existing integrity training, or as standalone training programmes. They form part of a wider effort to preserve football from the growing threat of match-fixing.
FIFA and INTERPOL agreed a ten-year joint initiative in May 2011 to enhance global efforts to tackle match manipulation and corruption in the sport.
As part of the initiative, INTERPOL has organised more than 11 Integrity in Sport workshops in all regions of the world, with support from FIFA. Information sessions are held in advance of all FIFA tournaments, and an anonymous hotline has been created for people to report tips or suspicious activity.
In addition, INTERPOL has also coordinated major conferences bringing together football associations, betting companies, gambling regulatory authorities and law enforcement to tackle the issues related to corruption in football and its links to organised crime.
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Thursday, September 26, 2013
FIFA, Interpol unveil e-learning tools to fight match manipulation
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Cheaper tickets
More great news for football
fans in the on-going 41st Merdeka Tournament in Kuantan!
The Football Association of
Malaysia is offering a further reduction in ticket prices for matches at the
Darul Makmur Stadium in Kuantan and Temerloh Stadium for the Merdeka Tournament
- Asia ’s most prestigious tournament.
Tickets for the match
between Malaysia and Thailand
However, tickets for the
Myanmar versus Singapore match (kick-off 8.45pm) on Wednesday,
September, 11, 2013, at the Temerloh Stadium are available at RM20 (free
seating) and RM25 (grand stand).
The prices of tickets for
the final on Saturday, September 14, 2013, at the Darul Makmur Stadium will
remain at RM20 (free seating) and RM50 for grand stand.
Football Association of
Malaysia (FAM) general-secretary Dato’ Hamidin Haji Mohd Amin, said the
decision to further reduce ticket prices is to allow fans, particularly those
residing in Kuantan and neighbouring towns to support the national team.
“Malaysia have already
qualified for the final and having discussed with our commercial partners, we
have agreed to reduce ticket pricings to give an opportunity to fans to come
and support Malaysia tomorrow in the
last group match at the Darul Makmur
stadium and also in the final,” said Dato’ Hamidin in Kuantan., Tuesday (10
Sept).
Malaysia 0 Jordan 1
A well-taken freekick from Shahnaz Yaseen Mahmoud
Jebreen gave Jordan a 1-0
win over Malaysia as they
took the lead in Group A of the AFF Aya Bank Women’s Championship here at the
Youth Training Centre in Yangon , Monday (9
Sept).
In an evenly contested affair, the Jordanian girls
scored the only goal of the game off Shahnaz Yaseen eight minutes to the end.
Both teams showed quality to play good attacking
football with Malaysia
A minute later Nosuraini Mazli should have given Malaysia the lead but despite being
unchallenged, she blasted the ball straight to Jordan
The change for Shahnaz in place of Abeer Mahmoud
Alnahar in the 80th minute
gave Jordan
RESULTS – Group A
Group A Current Standings
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W
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D
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GF
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GA
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GD
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PTS
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1
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1
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0
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0
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1
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0
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+1
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3
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1
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0
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1
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0
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0
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0
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=
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1
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1
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0
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1
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0
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0
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0
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1
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1
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0
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0
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1
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0
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1
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-1
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0
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0
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0
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0
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0
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0
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0
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0
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0
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Monday, September 9, 2013
Wrestling back to Olympics
In the latest step in the process of evaluating and refining the Olympic Programme, the sport of wrestling was elected today as an additional sport for the Summer Olympic Games of 2020 and 2024.
The decision was made at the 125th Session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, after the full membership of the IOC agreed on the 25 sports that will form the core for the 2020 Games, awarded yesterday to the city of Tokyo.
The Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA) made a presentation to the Session, along with the International Federations of baseball/softball (WBSC) and squash (WSF), all shortlisted by the IOC Executive Board in May following an extensive evaluation by the Olympic Programme Commission. The IOC members voted for wrestling with a simple majority of votes cast in the first round.
“I would like to offer my congratulations to the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles,” said IOC President Jacques Rogge. “Wrestling has shown great passion and resilience in the last few months. They have taken a number of steps to modernise and improve their sport, including the addition of more women and athletes in decision-making positions; rule changes to make the sport more exciting and easy to understand; and an increase in the number of women’s competitions. We are pleased with their reaction and happy to have wrestling on the Olympic programme in 2020 and 2024.”
In order to control the size, cost and complexity of the Games, the Olympic Programme was capped in 2002 at 28 sports, approximately 300 events and a target of 10,500 athletes. It was also decided that a systematic review of the Olympic Programme would be conducted after every edition of the Games to provide regular rejuvenation of the Games while maintaining continuity and consistency. The concept of a core group of 25 sports with a maximum of three additional sports was adopted in 2007, and two years later golf and rugby sevens were added to the programme of the Rio 2016 and the 2020 Olympic Games.
Results of vote:Wrestling: 49Baseball/ softball: 24Squash: 22
Friday, September 6, 2013
Park charts Myanmar's fortunes
Former South Korean
striker-turned-coach Park Sung Hwa will chart Myanmar
The 25-member Myanmar squad, captain by Kyaw Zayer Min,
arrived in Kuantan together with the Singapore
and Thailand team on
Thursday for one of Asia ’s most prestigious
football tournaments held at the Darul Makmur Stadium.
Myanmar won the Merdeka Tournament
three times, emerged runners-up on four occasions and shared the trophy once
since the inception of the tournament in 1957, the last being in 2006 following
a 2-1 victory over Indonesia in the final.
Appointed by Myanmar FA in 2011, Park has been tasked with coaching both
the senior and junior national teams to turn the country’s football fortunes
around and has succeeded to a certain extent. Myanmar
The 58-year-old Park, however, is no
stranger to the Merdeka Tournament, having first featured for the senior team
alongside South Korea ’s
other famous footballers - Cha Bum-Kun and Kim Jae Han - in the 1975 final
against Malaysia
Earlier in the preliminary round of
the 1975 Merdeka tournament, Park also scored a goal in South Korea Iraq
Meanwhile Thailand
and Singapore
Thailand Football Association
General-Secretary, Worawi Makudi, disclosed that the 20 players who will
feature in the 2013 Merdeka Tournament were selected from the recent National
Championships and will carry Thailand’s hopes in the Merdeka Tournament.
“We appreciate and thank the Football Association of Malaysia for inviting
us to this historical tournament after a lapse of five years. The Merdeka
Tournament and Thailand ’s
King’s Cup are Asia ’s longest surviving
tournaments,” said Worawi.
“We are serious contenders to win the Merdeka Tournament,” he added.
With Izwan Mahbud's safe pair of
hands, and the attacking threats from the likes of Faris Ramli, Fazli Ayob and
Nazrul Ahmad Nazari; along with the silky skills of forward Shahfiq Ghani, much
is expected of Sundramoorthy's side.
Most of the players are already well-drilled in the style and a system that
has seen them become the first Singaporean team to lift a Malaysian domestic
trophy since a Fandi Ahmad-led Singapore
And now they are out to make heads turn in the Merdeka Tournament.
Delia Fischer appointed new FIFA Head of Media
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
HSBC Asian Seven Series
The Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU) announced Monday (26/8/13) the dates for the 2013 HSBC Asian Rugby Sevens Series (HSBC A7S), Asia’s premier regional sevens competition.
The official tournament draw for the Malaysia Sevens, the opening event on this year’s Series, was also held in Kuala Lumpur and officiated by Mr Ross Mitchell, Honorary Secretary General of the Asian Rugby Football Union, Dato Wira Amiruddin Embi, President of the Malaysian Rugby Union and Abdul Sani, Head of Marketing Malaysia, of HSBC.
This year’s HSBC A7S continues the worldwide growth trend in sevens ahead of the sport’s debut in the Olympics in 2016. Most notably, the HSBC A7S has grown from the three ranking events of 2012 to four ranking events for 2013. The number of core teams, (those nations competing across every event on the series), has also increased from last year’s ten to 12, heralding a further improvement in the already-high competitive standard.
The core teams on the 2013 Series are defending champions Hong Kong, runners-up Japan, China, Chinese Taipei, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates.
The Series opens this weekend with the Malaysia Sevens, hosted by the Malaysia Rugby Union, and held for the first time in Kuala Lumpur after several successful tournaments in Borneo.
After Kuala Lumpur, Asian sevens action moves to the land of smiles for the Thailand Sevens in mid-September. The Thailand Sevens marks the largest ever HSBC A7S event with 28 teams participating, including 16 men’s teams and 12 women’s teams. The four men’s teams playing alongside the 12 core teams in Thailand are Cambodia, India, Laos and Uzbekistan, with Cambodia and Uzbekistan making their HSBC A7S debuts. The 12 women’s teams in Thailand are participating as part of the two-leg Asian Women’s Sevens Series with the other tournament being held once again in Pune, India.
After Thailand, the Series returns to Mumbai in October for the India Sevens at the legendary Bombay Gymkhana club. Fourteen teams will take part including the 12 core sides, hosts India and Iran.
The Series once again concludes in Singapore with November’s Singapore Sevens - this time granted full ranking status on the Series.
In Singapore, the 12-core teams will be concluding what should be another tight-wire series, (last year’s champions Hong Kong were better by runners-up Japan by only ½ of a point), as they chase more than just Asian bragging rights.
The top finisher on the Series will take comfort that they are leading the stakes for Asia’s sole men’s qualification spot for the 2016 Olympic Games, while the top finishers on this year’s HSBC A7S will again book coveted spots in the world-famous Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens in March 2014.
All of the action kicks off in Kuala Lumpur this weekend with the Malaysia Sevens (August 31-1 September). The official tournament draw was held at today’s press conference.
The top four finishers from last year’s Series, Hong Kong, Japan, Chinese Taipei and China respectively, were seeded into the first row of the four pools with the remaining eight teams banded into two draw groups of four and drawn across the remaining spots.
Hong Kong tops Pool A with runners-up Japan in Pool D, China and Chinese Taipei are ranked as the top seeds in Pool B and Pool C accordingly.
Making matters more interesting in the opening tournament of the 2013 HSBC A7S is that the Malaysia Sevens falls in the same week as the 12th National Games in China, where rugby sevens is making its debut thanks to the sport’s new Olympic status.
As a result, two of the top four seeds, China and Hong Kong, will have the challenge of running two elite sevens squads in a simultaneous period.
The date clash has put extra pressure on Hong Kong’s small player base. Last season, Hong Kong used a core group of players led by Rowan Varty as they won their first-ever HSBC Asian Sevens crown.
“Last year we only used 14 players during the series, but now we will have to split our resources between the National Games and the opening tournament in Malaysia and both are equally important to us,” said Dai Rees, Hong Kong Rugby Football Union’s head of performance and coaching.
All teams know that a good start in Kuala Lumpur will give them much-needed momentum in the four-leg Series.
With the series being expanded to four legs this year, it will give teams a little more breathing space to come back from one bad result but Hong Kong will be hoping that they can still finish in the top-two in Malaysia even though several of their senior players are likely to be on duty at the China National Games.
“Winning a gold medal at the National Games will be important as it is the first time that rugby sevens is being played there – since it is now an Olympic sport – which means the result will carry a lot of weight among the Hong Kong Olympic Committee,” Rees said.
While Japan and Hong Kong are again expected to contest for the top spot, fierce opposition can be expected from South Korea, the Philippines and Sri Lanka, while the Malaysia Sevens can never be counted out on their home grounds at Petaling Jaya.
South Korea will be aiming to make a mark before the Asian Games, which they host in Incheon next year. In recent years the Koreans have failed to fire at sevens and have been a shadow of the sides that used to stun top teams with regularity at the Hong Kong Sevens in the late 90s.
“This series is really important to us as we look ahead to the Incheon Asian Games and good results will boost our preparation for that,” said Korean coach Park Ki Haeng.
The Philippines will hope the hard lessons learned at June’s World Cup Sevens in Moscow will pay dividends. The biggest hurdle facing them, however, is the availability of their leading players who ply their trade in Australia and Japan.
“It’s all about having a quality team for all four tournaments and that is what we are trying to do,” said Philippines coach Matt Cullen. “We are confident that if we put out our best side we can compete for a top-three finish in the series and this is our goal.”
Sri Lanka finished last season on a high on the 15-a-side front when they won the Division One tournament in the HSBC Asian Five Nations and was promoted to the Top Five in 2014.
But their sevens programme was put out of kilter by the sudden departure of their foreign coaches earlier this month leaving the squad rudderless. If they can get their act together, and if Ben Gollings is back again, the islanders can be a threat to any side.
Among the other sides capable of pulling an upset win on their day are Kazakhstan, Malaysia and Chinese-Taipei, the latter finishing a surprise third place in the series last year, earning them an invite to the Hong Kong Sevens for the first time since 2010.
About HSBC and Rugby
HSBC is a long-term investor in Rugby in Asia and around the world. As well as being the title sponsor of the Sevens World Series, Asian 5 Nations and Asian Sevens Series, the bank is co-title sponsor of the Hong Kong Sevens from 2012. HSBC is the Principal Partner of all the Hong Kong rugby teams, and the British & Irish Lions, who played in Hong Kong in 2013 en route to Australia. The bank is also the title sponsor of the Waratahs Super 15 team in Australia, the Penguin International Coaching Academy and the Cobra 10s tournament in Malaysia.
Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU)
ARFU was founded in 1968 with eight member unions. In the past decade its membership has trebled to 28 full and associate member unions ranging from Kazakhstan in the north to Indonesia in the south and Lebanon in the west to Guam in the east. ARFU covers a territory of over 44 sq million kilometres and more than 3 billion people. ARFU is the sanctioning body for the HSBC Asian 5 Nations, which every four years acts as the qualifying event for the Rugby World Cup, and the HSBC Asian Sevens Series, which was held for the first time in 2011. ARFU also offers organized international competition for women and youth across Asia.
The official tournament draw for the Malaysia Sevens, the opening event on this year’s Series, was also held in Kuala Lumpur and officiated by Mr Ross Mitchell, Honorary Secretary General of the Asian Rugby Football Union, Dato Wira Amiruddin Embi, President of the Malaysian Rugby Union and Abdul Sani, Head of Marketing Malaysia, of HSBC.
This year’s HSBC A7S continues the worldwide growth trend in sevens ahead of the sport’s debut in the Olympics in 2016. Most notably, the HSBC A7S has grown from the three ranking events of 2012 to four ranking events for 2013. The number of core teams, (those nations competing across every event on the series), has also increased from last year’s ten to 12, heralding a further improvement in the already-high competitive standard.
The core teams on the 2013 Series are defending champions Hong Kong, runners-up Japan, China, Chinese Taipei, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates.
The Series opens this weekend with the Malaysia Sevens, hosted by the Malaysia Rugby Union, and held for the first time in Kuala Lumpur after several successful tournaments in Borneo.
After Kuala Lumpur, Asian sevens action moves to the land of smiles for the Thailand Sevens in mid-September. The Thailand Sevens marks the largest ever HSBC A7S event with 28 teams participating, including 16 men’s teams and 12 women’s teams. The four men’s teams playing alongside the 12 core teams in Thailand are Cambodia, India, Laos and Uzbekistan, with Cambodia and Uzbekistan making their HSBC A7S debuts. The 12 women’s teams in Thailand are participating as part of the two-leg Asian Women’s Sevens Series with the other tournament being held once again in Pune, India.
After Thailand, the Series returns to Mumbai in October for the India Sevens at the legendary Bombay Gymkhana club. Fourteen teams will take part including the 12 core sides, hosts India and Iran.
The Series once again concludes in Singapore with November’s Singapore Sevens - this time granted full ranking status on the Series.
In Singapore, the 12-core teams will be concluding what should be another tight-wire series, (last year’s champions Hong Kong were better by runners-up Japan by only ½ of a point), as they chase more than just Asian bragging rights.
The top finisher on the Series will take comfort that they are leading the stakes for Asia’s sole men’s qualification spot for the 2016 Olympic Games, while the top finishers on this year’s HSBC A7S will again book coveted spots in the world-famous Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens in March 2014.
All of the action kicks off in Kuala Lumpur this weekend with the Malaysia Sevens (August 31-1 September). The official tournament draw was held at today’s press conference.
The top four finishers from last year’s Series, Hong Kong, Japan, Chinese Taipei and China respectively, were seeded into the first row of the four pools with the remaining eight teams banded into two draw groups of four and drawn across the remaining spots.
Hong Kong tops Pool A with runners-up Japan in Pool D, China and Chinese Taipei are ranked as the top seeds in Pool B and Pool C accordingly.
Making matters more interesting in the opening tournament of the 2013 HSBC A7S is that the Malaysia Sevens falls in the same week as the 12th National Games in China, where rugby sevens is making its debut thanks to the sport’s new Olympic status.
As a result, two of the top four seeds, China and Hong Kong, will have the challenge of running two elite sevens squads in a simultaneous period.
The date clash has put extra pressure on Hong Kong’s small player base. Last season, Hong Kong used a core group of players led by Rowan Varty as they won their first-ever HSBC Asian Sevens crown.
“Last year we only used 14 players during the series, but now we will have to split our resources between the National Games and the opening tournament in Malaysia and both are equally important to us,” said Dai Rees, Hong Kong Rugby Football Union’s head of performance and coaching.
All teams know that a good start in Kuala Lumpur will give them much-needed momentum in the four-leg Series.
With the series being expanded to four legs this year, it will give teams a little more breathing space to come back from one bad result but Hong Kong will be hoping that they can still finish in the top-two in Malaysia even though several of their senior players are likely to be on duty at the China National Games.
“Winning a gold medal at the National Games will be important as it is the first time that rugby sevens is being played there – since it is now an Olympic sport – which means the result will carry a lot of weight among the Hong Kong Olympic Committee,” Rees said.
While Japan and Hong Kong are again expected to contest for the top spot, fierce opposition can be expected from South Korea, the Philippines and Sri Lanka, while the Malaysia Sevens can never be counted out on their home grounds at Petaling Jaya.
South Korea will be aiming to make a mark before the Asian Games, which they host in Incheon next year. In recent years the Koreans have failed to fire at sevens and have been a shadow of the sides that used to stun top teams with regularity at the Hong Kong Sevens in the late 90s.
“This series is really important to us as we look ahead to the Incheon Asian Games and good results will boost our preparation for that,” said Korean coach Park Ki Haeng.
The Philippines will hope the hard lessons learned at June’s World Cup Sevens in Moscow will pay dividends. The biggest hurdle facing them, however, is the availability of their leading players who ply their trade in Australia and Japan.
“It’s all about having a quality team for all four tournaments and that is what we are trying to do,” said Philippines coach Matt Cullen. “We are confident that if we put out our best side we can compete for a top-three finish in the series and this is our goal.”
Sri Lanka finished last season on a high on the 15-a-side front when they won the Division One tournament in the HSBC Asian Five Nations and was promoted to the Top Five in 2014.
But their sevens programme was put out of kilter by the sudden departure of their foreign coaches earlier this month leaving the squad rudderless. If they can get their act together, and if Ben Gollings is back again, the islanders can be a threat to any side.
Among the other sides capable of pulling an upset win on their day are Kazakhstan, Malaysia and Chinese-Taipei, the latter finishing a surprise third place in the series last year, earning them an invite to the Hong Kong Sevens for the first time since 2010.
About HSBC and Rugby
HSBC is a long-term investor in Rugby in Asia and around the world. As well as being the title sponsor of the Sevens World Series, Asian 5 Nations and Asian Sevens Series, the bank is co-title sponsor of the Hong Kong Sevens from 2012. HSBC is the Principal Partner of all the Hong Kong rugby teams, and the British & Irish Lions, who played in Hong Kong in 2013 en route to Australia. The bank is also the title sponsor of the Waratahs Super 15 team in Australia, the Penguin International Coaching Academy and the Cobra 10s tournament in Malaysia.
Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU)
ARFU was founded in 1968 with eight member unions. In the past decade its membership has trebled to 28 full and associate member unions ranging from Kazakhstan in the north to Indonesia in the south and Lebanon in the west to Guam in the east. ARFU covers a territory of over 44 sq million kilometres and more than 3 billion people. ARFU is the sanctioning body for the HSBC Asian 5 Nations, which every four years acts as the qualifying event for the Rugby World Cup, and the HSBC Asian Sevens Series, which was held for the first time in 2011. ARFU also offers organized international competition for women and youth across Asia.
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