Football Media

Who will be honoured with the title of FIFA World Player and FIFA Women’s World Player for 2009? FIFA has announced the names of the players on the short lists (see below) and the final decision will be made by the captains and head coaches of the men’s and women’s national teams.

At the beginning of December, FIFA will announce the names of the five men and five women who have received the most votes and the winners will be revealed at the 19th FIFA World Player Gala at the Zurich Kongresshaus on 21 December 2009.

It should be noted that coaches and captains may not vote for players from the national team they coach or play for.

The lists of 23 male and ten female candidates for these prestigious awards have been drawn up by football experts from the Football Committee and the Committee for Women’s Football and the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

The following 23 men (in alphabetical order) are in contention for the title of FIFA World Player 2009;

Michael Ballack (Germany), Gianluigi Buffon (Italy), Iker Casillas (Spain), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Diego (Brazil), Didier Drogba (Côte d’Ivoire), Michael Essien (Ghana), Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon), Steven Gerrard (England), Thierry Henry (France), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden), Andrés Iniesta (Spain), Kaká (Brazil), Frank Lampard (England), Luis Fabiano (Brazil), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Carles Puyol (Spain), Franck Ribéry (France), Wayne Rooney (England), John Terry (England), Fernando Torres (Spain), David Villa (Spain) and Xavi (Spain).

The following ten women (in alphabetical order) are in contention for the title of FIFA Women’s World Player 2009;

Nadine Angerer (Germany), Sonia Bompastor (France), Cristiane (Brazil), Inka Grings (Germany), Mana Iwabuchi (Japan), Simone Laudehr (Germany), Marta (Brazil), Birgit Prinz (Germany), Kelly Smith (England) and Abby Wambach (USA).

Two big names are lending their support to OC President Steffi Jones in her home city: German women’s international Sandra Smisek and Karl-Heinz ‘Charly’ Korbel (who has the record for Bundesliga appearances) have been named as ambassadors for the city of Frankfurt for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2011™ with immediate effect.

Smisek and Korbel were appointed during the meeting of the board of trustees of the Organising Committee at the headquarters of the German Football Association (DFB). Jones also named Rolf Hocke, chairman of the Hessen Football Association and DFB vice-president, as head of the OC venue office in Frankfurt.

“Tradition and top international performance are what make Frankfurt a veritable trademark for women’s football and for the Women’s World Cup 2011,” said Jones. “Sandra Smisek and Karl-Heinz Korbel give our team two more famous names who have done a great deal for the development of football in Frankfurt thanks to their commitment and personalities. Both of them will play a crucial role in helping to further stoke the anticipation in Frankfurt ahead of the Women’s World Cup.”

Born on 3 July 1977 in Frankfurt, Sandra Smisek was capped 133 times for her country, scoring 34 goals in the process. Her crowning glory on the international stage was when she helped Germany win the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2003 and 2007, while she also won the UEFA Women’s EURO in 1997, 2001 and 2005. The 1. FFC Frankfurt striker retired from the international game on 1 October 2008.

“I am incredibly proud to have been given the task of acting as an ambassador for Frankfurt,” said Smisek. “The success of 1. FFC Frankfurt has been a major factors behind our city becoming one of the most important centres for women’s football. The final of the Women’s World Cup will also be held in Frankfurt, and I am really looking forward to taking part in an event of that magnitude.”

Karl-Heinz Korbel was born on 1 December 1954 in Dossenheim (Baden-Wurttemberg) and holds the record for appearances in the Bundesliga, having played no fewer than 602 times for Eintracht Frankfurt between 1972 and 1991. During his long and storied career, Korbel won the UEFA Cup in 1980 as well as the German Cup in 1974, 1975, 1981 and 1988. “Charly”, as he was affectionately known, played six times for his country and is currently head of the Eintracht football academy.

“The city and the region will be involved in the World Cup and this gives us another incredible opportunity to position Frankfurt as one of the major sporting cities in the world,” Korbel added. “I’m sure Frankfurt will come across as an open and welcoming city in 2011.”

A number of ambassadors have already been appointed for other cities, namely Franziska van Almsick and Hansi Flick for Sinsheim, Dunja Hayali and Rainer Bonhof for Monchengladbach, Shary Reeves and Dariusz Wosz for Bochum, Britta Carlson and Roy Prager for Wolfsburg and Kerstin Stegemann and Oliver Welke for the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup venue of Bielefeld.

The delighted faces of the 15,000 volunteers at the 2006 FIFA World Cup™ looking after fans, officials, teams and media representatives will be one of the tournament’s abiding memories. The start of the comprehensive application programme for the first ever FIFA Women’s World Cup on German soil will coincide with the women’s international between Germany and USA in Augsburg on 29 October 2009.

“Without volunteers, a major event like a FIFA Women’s World Cup would be inconceivable. The 2006 volunteer movement was fantastic, and I’m sure plenty of people from a variety of backgrounds will once again join and make a valuable contribution to the successful running of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2011. The volunteers are the ones in direct contact with our guests, thus making them part of the wonderful and joyful family atmosphere at a Women’s World Cup. They are “unpaid, but priceless”,” said Steffi Jones.

A total of 4,000 volunteers, with approximately 400 in each of the nine venues, will be required to make sure that the first ever FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany passes off without a hitch. Volunteers can support the Organising Committee in 12 different departments: Accreditation, Visitor Services, Hospitality, IT and Telecommunication, Logistics, Marketing, Media and Communications, VIP Services, Ticketing, Transportation and Traffic, Tournament and Match Organisation and Volunteer Management.

Many famous names are lending their weight to the project, including OC President Steffi Jones and actor Joachim “Blacky” Fuchsberger, also a member of the board of trustees of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2011. Both will be the patrons of the programme. “It’s great the extent to which people from all sorts of backgrounds join forces through the volunteers programme to make a concrete contribution to this big sports event. It’s particularly nice to realise that all kind of people, young and old, priests and university professors, housewives and mothers, trainees and CEOs, can play their part. I’m especially looking forward to the international applicants. The volunteers programme underlines the fact that the World Cup is the result of teamwork”, commented Fuchsberger.

Those interested in taking part can find the application form on the official web site www.FIFA.com/Germany2011. Applicants must be 18 years old and speak German as well as having a basic knowledge of English.

During the first phase the OC will also be looking for volunteers for the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, being held from 13 July – 1 August 2010 in Augsburg, Bielefeld, Bochum and Dresden.

During the Conference on the Specificity and Autonomy of Sport, which took place at the Hungarian Parliament, 21 October 2009, the European Parliament Vice-President, Pál Schmitt (Hungary), and the FIFA President, Joseph S. Blatter, met to discuss the situation of sport within the European Union and possible common steps to protect the values of sport in general and football in particular.

Messrs Schmitt and Blatter, both IOC members, concurred on the urgency to recognise and respect the specific characteristics of sport in Europe in line with Article 165 of the Lisbon Treaty and on the basis of the document presented in 2008 to the European authorities by the Olympic and Sport Movement under the title of ‘Position of the Olympic and Sports Movement on the Specificity and Autonomy of Sport’.

Moreover, Mr Schmitt, who fully supports the FIFA-proposed 6+5 rule, accepted the role of ’6+5 ambassador’ to the European Parliament in order to promote and defend this rule intended to protect national teams, the training of young players, training clubs as well as the national identity of football clubs.

Messrs Blatter and Schmitt defined an action plan to be implemented in coordination with the programme of the next three rotating presidencies of the European Union – Spain and Belgium in 2010, and Hungary during the first semester of 2011.

At the conference, also attended by IOC Executive Board member and IIHF President René Fasel, FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter made the following suggestions: the number ’6′ – which corresponds to the minimum number of players that a club must select at the start of a match in a club competition who must be eligible to play for the national team of the association in which the club plays – would include players, irrespective of their nationality, who have been registered for clubs belonging to the association in which the club plays on a continuous basis since the age of 12 or earlier. It would also include players, irrespective of their nationality, who have played professional football for clubs belonging to the association in which the club plays on a continuous basis for five years since the age of 18.

Prime Minister of Hungary Gordon Bajnai: “I do support the specificity and the autonomy of sport. I and the Hungarian government wish to congratulate FIFA on its initiatives towards the protection of national teams.”

European Parliament Vice-President Pál Schmitt: “I look forward to the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, which represents historic recognition for sport and its specific nature and autonomy. It is my personal conviction that sport is part of national identity and culture, and the ’6+5′ rule is a symbol for all team sports and gives an opportunity to young talents to take part in the highest level of competition. I expect that besides football, other team sports will also support this initiative since local stars in the line-up make sport more popular and attractive, therefore it draws young people back to the grounds.”

FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter: “I’m particularly pleased that such a high-level and diversified group of participants at the conference called for a recognition of the specificity and the autonomy of sport. We are not alone in sharing these views, which speak for themselves. The ’6+5′ rule which FIFA defends is nothing but a fair rule to maintain the integrity, the balance and the uncertainty of competitions. These values are crucial to football.”