Desperate Poland search for a football star
December 22, 2009
After seeing Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski get snapped up by the likes of Germany, Poland’s football association (PZPN) is now scouting the globe’s vast Polish diaspora for talent.
Polish fans and the PZPN alike dream of reviving a long-lost golden age, with their sights set on glory on home turf at Euro 2012, after failing to make it to the 2010 World Cup.
Getting budding internationals to opt for Poland is part of the strategy.
“The goal is to never again to have cases like Podolski or Klose,” said Maciej Chorazyk, 35, the PZPN’s diaspora pointman.
The duo were born in Poland and emigrated to Germany as youngsters. Called up by Germany, they turned Poles into nervous wrecks during the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2008, when twists of fate drew Germany and Poland together.
Klose, now 31, was never tempted by Poland, but 24-year-old Podolski is a classic one-that-got-away.
At 18 he contacted the PZPN. He got the brush-off, he has said — just like Polish-born Germany team-mate Piotr Trochowski.
“We don’t want players like that to be scoring against us,” said Chorazyk.
An ardent supporter since he was six, with degrees in sociology and journalism, but no grounding in the sport business, Chorazyk created a scouting unit two years ago with nothing but a nod from the PZPN.
“It was an accident. One day I met a member of the PZPN and offered to scout for players with Polish roots. He said yes,” he said.
Chorazyk worked for free for the first year. He has a crew of volunteers in Germany, France, Britain, the Netherlands and Scandinavia, as well as further afield in Brazil, Argentina, Canada and the United States.
“We live in an age of globalisation, and we need to open up to the outside world,” said former Poland manager Jerzy Engel. “We should be above all be opening up to our diaspora”.
Football’s world governing body, FIFA, allows teams to call up players with family ties to the country. Ireland, another nation with a vast diaspora, has done so for decades.
According to the diaspora organisation Wspolnota Polska there are around 17 million people outside Poland with Polish citizenship or recent ancestry. The home population is 38 million.
The diaspora results from a tortured history of invasion, four decades of post-World War II communist rule, and over a century of economic migration.
Despite the potentially vast numbers, Chorazyk drew up a 500-name shopping list and even honed that to about 40, including juniors. Half of his picks have already turned out for Poland sides.
For the past two years, he has organised training camps in Germany for Polish-origin players in German clubs.
It’s still early days, he noted. “We’re way behind the Turks, who have three permanent offices in Germany with full-time paid staff.”
Chorazyk has already steered one relatively big name into the Polish senior side: 25-year-old midfielder Ludovic Obraniak of French first division club Lille.
Obraniak, a second-generation Frenchman, scored both goals in his inaugural Poland match, a 2-0 friendly against Greece in August. He is learning Polish, and gave an emotional rendition of the national anthem.
“We don’t promise them anything. Playing for the national side is an honour and that’s how we present it to them,” said Chorazyk.
Engel underlined an extra, non-sporting motive: “It’s about preserving a sense of Polishness amongst thousands of youngsters abroad”.
After Obraniak, Poland have three more defenders in their sights: Frenchmen Damien Perquis, 25, of Sochaux, and Laurent Koscielny, 24, of Lorient, and Polish-born German Sebastian Boenisch, 22, of Werder Bremen.
Cold War politics would have hampered diaspora recruitment before the communist regime fell in 1989. But in any case, Poland’s home-grown side was in its heyday.
Poland finished third in the World Cup in 1974 — when current PZPN chief Grzegorz Lato was the tournament’s top scorer with seven goals — and again in 1982. They also won Olympic gold and then silver, in 1972 and 1976.
They made it to the second round of the 1986 World Cup and, shortly after democracy returned, won Olympic silver in 1992.
Solid qualifying for the 2002 and 2006 World Cups and Euro 2008 raised hopes of a return to the glory days — dashed by lacklustre displays at all three tournaments.
WARSAW (AFP)
Related posts
Marta wins fourth consecutive FIFA award
December 22, 2009
Brazilian women’s football star Marta won the FIFA world player of the year award for the fourth consecutive year here on Monday.
Marta, who plays professionally for Los Angeles Sol, thus becomes the record winner of the honour awarded by football’s world ruling body.
American Mia Hamm won the inaugural women’s award in 2001, winning again in 2002.
Germany’s Birgit Prinz then picked up the award three years in a row from 2003-2005.
ZURICH, Switzerland (AFP)
Related posts
FIFA Club World Cup: Estudiantes-Barcelona preview
December 19, 2009
FIFA Club World Cup 2009 will conclude on Saturday at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, when Catalonia giants Barcelona face Argentina’s Estudiantes.
The kings of Europe will play Copa Libertadores champions in the tournament finale, as has been the case in the last four years.
With Europe running out as winners in the previous meetings, Estudiantes will be looking to reverse the trend as they bid to become the fourth South American side and the first Argentinians to win the FIFA Club World Cup.
And no one knows better the size of task at hand for the El Pincha than Juan Sebastian Veron, who was a member of the Boca Juniors side that went down 4-2 to AC Milan at Japan 2007.
However, Veron is not the only one as Barcelona have also tasted defeat in the final of the competition, having played second fiddle to Internacional three years ago.
Even the presence of the likes Ronaldinho, Deco and Samuel Eto’o in their ranks could not help the Spanish giants to avoid a defeat.
The urge to claim the only trophy missing from the cabinet, is greater and the Blaugrana goal scoring machine will be ready to go all guns blazing
After an impressive display against Atlante in the semi-final the Catalans now have their eyes fixed firmly on an unprecedented sixth trophy.
Related posts
Estudiantes into World Club Cup final
December 16, 2009
Copa Libertadores winners Estudiantes de La Plata beat South Korean side Pohang Steelers FC 2-1 to book their place in the final of the Club World Cup here on Tuesday.
The Argentina side completely outplayed the Steelers, who were reduced to eight men with less than quarter of an hour remaining at the Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium.
Benitez opened the scoring with a free kick at the stroke of halftime. The striker then added a second goal eight minutes into the second half to make it 2-0 for the South Americans.
Steelers’ Brazilian striker Denilson cut the lead in the 71st minute, but they could apply any further pressure after Jae Sung received his second yellow card in the 72nd minute, followed by a red card for Hwa Yong in the 77th.
Steelers had already lost the services of skipper Jae Won in the 56th minute after being booked for the second time.
Estudiantes now face the winners of Wednesday’s other semi-final between Barcelona and Atlante in Saturday’s final.
ABU DHABI (AFP)
Related posts
Real and Barca sweep FIFA world player nominees
December 8, 2009
Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid have swept the list of five nominees for the 2009 FIFA World Player of the Year award.
Barcelona are represented by Spanish midfielders Andres Iniesta and Xavi along with Argentine playmaker Lionel Messi, the strong favourite for the award to be handed out on December 21.
Real Madrid are present thanks to the inclusion of Brazilian Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portugal international who won the award last year when in Manchester United colours.
The quintet have emerged from an initial 23-strong shortlist with voting restricted to the coaches and captains of national selections.
PARIS (AFP)
Related posts
Blatter bluster comes to nothing…for now
December 4, 2009
Sepp Blatter conjured up a lot of bluster about the state of the game, in the wake of the Thierry Henry handball and the match fixing arrests.
His call for an extraordinary meeting of the FIFA Executive Committee promised some extraordinary decisions and was followed at the start of the week with the firm hint fundamental change was in the offing.
Visions of stricter punishment for divers, more power for referees to deal with the wrestling between opposing strikers and defenders at set pieces and a suggestion of extra officials to deal with the game’s more contentious moments hung deliciously in the air.
Blatter made one of his better analyses of the issues he felt were blighting the modern game in a question and answer session at the Soccerex business conference in Johannesburg on Monday, setting up the prospect that Wednesday’s extraordinary Executive Committee meeting would perhaps promise a lot more of the fair play FIFA is so quick to pontificate about.
Blatter appeared before the world’s media after the meeting and even then hinted at the juicy changes to come, stating quite clearly in his preamble that the future of the game was at a crossroads.
But then, as he explained what had been decided upon by the 24 member committee, it quickly became apparent the meeting was anything but extraordinary.
There was no agreement on any fundamental improvements.
One referee and two linesmen will stay in place for a while to come; a promised change to the playoff system at the end of the qualifiers will be reviewed by a future committee and Interpol is a new firm friend of FIFA.
It is clear Blatter’s knee jerk reaction to the adverse publicity in the wake of the Henry incident and the betting scandal was not appreciated by his more conservative colleagues.
It is not often the committee puts a FIFA president so emphatically back in his box, but a lid on Blatter’s exuberances is clearly now in place.
Michel Platini and Franz Beckenbauer are against any drastic tinkering to a game they know all too well and the Europeans, and their powerful television partners, think the playoffs are a superbly exciting way of finishing off the qualifying.
The game as we know it for the moment remains. Even with the handballs and contentious goal line decisions, it’s still a good product.
PHOTO: FIFA president Sepp Blatter is pictured during a media briefing on Robben Island December 3, 2009. The winners of next year’s World Cup final in South Africa will collect $30 million in prize money, FIFA said on Thursday after their Executive Committee meeting in the historic setting of Robben Island. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko
Related posts
FIFA call crisis talks after qualifiers, betting scandal
November 24, 2009
FIFA president Sepp Blatter has called an extraordinary general meeting for December 2 following the Thierry Henry handball incident and an ongoing investigation into match-fixing in Europe.
A FIFA statement released by world football’s ruling body said Monday: “Due to recent events in the world of football, namely incidents at the play-offs for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, match control (refereeing) and irregularities in the football betting market, the FIFA President has called an extraordinary meeting of the Executive Committee.
“The extraordinary meeting of the Executive Committee will take place in Cape Town on 2 December 2009, starting at 15.00.”
The Henry handball incident left football’s reputation – at least as regards the standards of refereeing – in tatters after it effectively cheated the Republic of Ireland out of a possible place at the World Cup.
France beat the Republic of Ireland 2-1 on aggregate over two legs of a qualifying playoff last Wednesday however Henry’s blatant double handball, which led to their equaliser on the night, proved decisive for France.
Since then the use of video technology at football matches, which FIFA is fundamentally against, is an issue which appears to be gaining support throughout the game.
FIFA last week however ruled they would not bow to the Republic’s formal request for a replay of the second leg.
The cash-rich world of European football meanwhile is reportedly harbouring an organised criminal gang that has made millions of euros by betting in Asian markets on the outcomes of matches they helped to decide.
On Thursday, police raided addresses across Europe, smashing what they believe is a 200-strong band that has bribed players, referees and coaches in nine countries.
The German Football Federation (DFB) and the German Football League (DFL) announced on Monday the creation of a task force to probe the betting scandal, which has rocked European football.
European football’s governing body UEFA called a crisis meeting at their base in Nyon, Switzerland, for this Wednesday and the DFB and DFL will join forces to probe 32 German games out of some 200 which are under suspicion.
Around 200 games played this season in Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Croatia, Slovenia, Turkey, Hungary, Bosnia-Hercegovina and Austria are now under suspicion.
None of the 200 suspected matches were in top flight European leagues like England’s Premier League, Italy’s Serie A, Spain’s La Liga or Germany’s Bundesliga.
In Italy on Monday police said they had arrested nine people whom they suspect of illegal betting in Italian football.
Amongst those arrested was the president of third division team Potenza, Giuseppe Postiglione and Pro Vastese sports director Luca Evangelista.
They are accused of being involved in organised crime and of sporting fraud relating to a number of bets placed on matches in the second and third divisions from 2007 to 2009.
One match under investigation is the Serie B encounter between Ravenna and Lecce on April 26, 2008, won 3-1 by the away side, on which Postiglione allegedly placed a bet that won him 86,000 euros.
Giovanni Colangelo, the public prosecutor in Potenza, claimed match-fixing had been taking place.
The 2006 ‘Calciopoli’ match-fixing scandal involved high-profile Serie A teams and resulted in Juventus being relegated to Serie B and stripped of their last two league titles.
AC Milan, Lazio, Fiorentina and Reggina were also punished for their roles in the match-fixing.
PARIS (AFP)
Related posts
FIFA opens disciplinary action against Egypt
November 20, 2009
FIFA has opened disciplinary proceedings against Egypt following the violence before their World Cup qualifier with Algeria in Cairo last week, world football’s governing body said.
“According to the official reports received by FIFA, on 12 November, there were incidents affecting the Algerian team on its way from the airport to the hotel,” a statement posted on FIFA’s website said.
“Consequently, disciplinary proceedings have been opened against the Egyptian Football Association. The FIFA Disciplinary Committee will decide on the case,” it added.
FIFA officials had already acknowledged that three Algerian players and the goalkeeping coach suffered injuries that “weren’t superficial” when their coach was attacked.
Egypt later won that match, leading to a tie in their group and a play-off in Sudan on Wednesday that Algeria won 1-0 to secure a berth in the World Cup finals.
The incidents and subsequent row over the play-off have triggered a diplomatic spat between the two countries.
Egypt also announced it was suspending its membership of the Union of North African Football Federations, complaining that Algerian fans had thrown stones at its fans in Sudan.
The Egyptian Football Federation wrote to its counterparts in Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia charging that its fans had come under sustained assault during the make-or-break qualification play-off on Wednesday, the state MENA news agency reported.
ZURICH (AFP)
Related posts
Europe rocked by fresh match-fixing scandal
November 20, 2009
European football braced on Friday for more details on a fresh match-fixing scandal reportedly involving huge sums of money placed with Asian bookmakers on suspect matches in nine countries.
Police across Europe carried out raids and arrests on Thursday, with German prosecutors suspecting that players, coaches, referees and officials from high-ranking European football had been offered bribes to throw games.
According to press reports, 15 people were arrested in at least six European countries, with around 100 suspects in total, with matches in Turkey the main focus of investigation.
Prosecutors, who have been working in tandem with European football’s ruling body UEFA, were due to reveal more details at a news conference in the western German city of Bochum at 2:00 pm (1300 GMT) on Friday.
The Berliner Morgenpost daily cited one unnamed top investigator as saying the probe could result in “one of the biggest scandals in the history of professional football.
“This earthquake will shake the credibility of the sport for a long time,” the paper quoted the investigator as saying.
According to information from AFP subsidiary SID, matches in at least nine European leagues were being investigated for signs that they had been manipulated.
These included matches played in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Slovenia, Switzerland and Turkey, SID reported.
Harald Stenger, a spokesman for the German Football Federation (DFB), said: “As far as the DFB knows, no German matches are affected.”
But the German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported that one of the games being scrutinised was a friendly between German side SSV Ulm against Fenerbahce Istanbul in July.
The Turkish side won 5-0, and investigators suspect that “certain currently unidentified SSV Ulm players” received more than 10,000 euros (14,900 dollars) to throw the game, the paper said.
Reports also said that the ring was believed to have placed enormous bets with Asian bookmakers, where limits on the sums that punters can gamble can be several times higher than in Europe.
Two of those arrested in Thursday included two Croatian brothers living in Berlin, Ante and Milan Sapina, who were at the centre of a match-fixing scandal that rocked Germany in 2004, newspapers said.
That case saw referee Robert Hoyzer sentenced to two years and five months in prison after admitting being paid 70,000 euros (104,000 dollars) by a Croatian mafia ring to throw games.
The matches concerned were mainly in the German second and third division, but a German Cup match between first division SV Hamburg and third division Paderborn and a first division match in Turkey were also affected.
Hoyzer was released after serving half of his sentence.
BOCHUM, Germany (AFP)
Related posts
Should FIFA throw the book at Maradona for outburst?
November 13, 2009
Argentina coach Diego Maradona will appear in person before a disciplinary hearing at FIFA headquarters on Sunday to explain his foul-mouthed outbursts (plural) following the win over Uruguay in Montevideo last month.
The result, at the very end of an 18-match campaign, finally clinched Argentina’s place at the 2010 World Cup after they had looked in serious danger of missing out for the first time since 1970. Maradona “celebrated” with an expletive-laden tirade at the hapless touchline reporter who went to interview him.
If he had left it at that, he could perhaps have passed it off as a heat of the moment incident. Instead, he spewed out more obscenities — which he says were aimed at the media — at the post-match press conference, broadcast live on a number of networks in several countries.
FIFA quickly caught on and opened disciplinary proceedings for his unruly behaviour. These could result in a stadium ban which, if applied only to competitive games, would effectively rule him out of part or possibly all of Argentina’s World Cup campaign.
Maradona would basically be restricted to organising training sessions (which so far under his leadership have resembled playground kickabouts) and giving motivational speeches at the team hotel to his players.
Maradona said he was angry at non-stop criticism of his coaching and team selections, reports that he has fallen out with his coaching staff and suggestions that he is not up to the job.
The criticism came after he used more than 70 players and lost World Cup qualifiers to Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil and Ecuador.
The Clarin newspaper also pointed out that when he was on the sidelines, Maradona was perfectly happy to publicly slag off his predecessors Marcelo Bielsa, Jose Pekerman and Alfio Basile.
Some media say they are tired of Maradona giving exclusive interviews to a few hand-picked chums and ignoring the rest, with the added insult that, when he does give a press conference, it is invariably cancelled or delayed.
What should FIFA do? And, if he is banned, should Argentina look for someone else who could actually coach the team from the dugout?
PHOTO: Argentina coach Diego Maradona celebrates after his team won its 2010 World Cup qualifying match against Uruguay in Montevideo October 14, 2009. REUTERS/Andres Stapff
Related posts
Calendar
Related Sites
- AFP
- e-soccertips
- Free Themes All - Blogger, Wordpress, Joomla themes
- Soccer Results
- soccerway
- WAGS
- WAGS Blog
Categories
- 1 League
- A PFG
- A-League
- African
- Argentina
- Belgium
- Brasil
- Bundesliga
- CAF Champions League
- Club Friendlies
- CONCACAF Champions' Cup
- Cup
- English Championship
- English Premier League
- Eredivisie
- European Championships
- FA Cup
- FIFA
- Franch
- Germany
- Italy
- Japan
- Jupiler League
- LA Liga
- LigaBwin
- Ligue 1
- MLS
- netherlands
- Olympics
- Olympics Women
- Photo
- portugal
- premier league
- Primera Division
- Rusia Premier League
- scotland
- Scottish Premier League
- Serie A
- Super Copa
- Super League
- Sweden
- Turkcell Süper Lig
- UEFA Champions League
- UEFA Cup
- Umaglesi Liga
- Uncategorized
- United States
- Video
- Vietnam
- Wag Watch
- WAGS
- WC Qualifying Asia
- WC Qualifying Concacaf
- WC Qualifying Europe
- WC Qualifying South-Africa
- WC Qualifying South-America
- World Cup
