Review 2004
October: Decisions, dates and development for the good of the game
From: FIFA
FIFA’s Fair Play and development programmes came to the fore once again in
October. The Com-unity programme, which had piloted earlier in the year, was
given its official blessing, while Futuro III and Goal projects were initiated
in South Africa and Azerbaijan.
FIFA’s commitment to humanitarian issues was highlighted in their support of
SOS Children’s Villages ongoing work across the globe with underprivileged
children. And continuing the philanthropic and centennial theme, world
football’s governing body also supported England’s Theatre Investment Fund (
TIF), a non-profit charity foundation in the country where football was first
organised as a competitive sport.
On the football front, the 2006 FIFA World Cup™ qualifiers were marching ahead
in all corners of the globe, while in FIFA qualifying youth tournaments,
Korea Republic once again proved to be Asia’s best.
At executive level, a programme to ensure top-class referring at the world’s
most popular sporting event was put into place while a whole host of items,
relating to international match calendars, FIFA Confederations Cup, women’s
football, a FIFA Club Task Force and refereeing, were passed at a meeting at
the beginning of the month.
FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking
After a month packed with 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifiers across the world,
Nigeria took up the mantle of Africa’s top-ranked nation, rising two slots to
18th as Cameroon dropped five positions to 21st. World Cup hosts Germany’s
poor form continued, as they slipped two places to 13th. Other nations who
made significant gains included Israel (56th, up 13), Slovenia (57th, up 14)
Finland (45th, up 8) and Cote d'Ivoire (45th, up 13).
2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™
From a raft of fixtures from all continents except Oceania, perhaps the most
significant result was in Asia where Kuwait scored a 1-0 home victory over
China. Those three points would prove decisive as the Middle East nation later
topped the group, eliminating the world’s most populous nation. One of the
most surprising scorelines though came from Europe, where little Liechtenstein
held European runners-up Portugal to a 2-2 draw before scoring their first
world cup qualifying victory with a 4-0 defeat of Luxembourg.
Key dates:
– October 6: FIFA Executive Committee adopts FIFA Code of Ethics and passes
decisions on a range of game-related topics
– October 6: 35 players shortlisted for the 14th FIFA World Player Gala
– October 8: Com-unity Programme given thumbs up
– October 9: Korea Republic win AFC Youth Championship and along with China,
Japan and Syria qualify for the FIFA World Youth Championship Netherlands 2005
– October 13: FIFA Goal project inaugurated in Azerbaijan
– October 26: 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™ Referees' Project introduced
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