Football Media

UEFA’s official tournament website for UEFA EURO 2008™, euro2008.com, and the organisation’s official website, uefa.com, have been recognised by the 2009 Ultimate Sports Website Awards published by SportBusiness.com.

The awards, introduced to salute the increasingly important role that an effective online presence plays in sport and commerce, range from attracting and engaging fans to delivering profile for sponsors and cost-effective revenue generation. In total, the awards were made in six categories: Content, community, style, monetisation, partnership activation and attracting new fans.

euro2008.com, which had set traffic records for a tournament website, won three awards:

• Best overall event site
• Best content for an event site
• Best site for attracting new fans (event site)

“The slogan used for euro2008.com was ‘For the fans, by the fans’ so we are delighted to have been recognised by SportBusiness as having the best event site for attracting new fans,” said David Farrelly, Head of Content at UEFA Media Technologies. “Winning best content and best overall event site is also a fantastic achievement and the perfect reward for the whole uefa.com team – editorial, production and commercial – who were involved in delivering the euro2008.com project.”

In addition, UEFA’s flagship website, uefa.com landed a fourth award, having been named as the best site for attracting new fans (Federation or league sector).

Aalborg, Aalborg
Thursday 19 March 2009 – 21.00CET (21.00 local time)
Matchday 9 – Round of 16, second leg

Aalborg BK face an uphill task if they are to deny Manchester City FC their third Danish scalp of the season, with a 2-0 loss in England last week having left them needing a big result in their UEFA Cup Round of 16 decider.

• First-half goals from Felipe Caicedo and Shaun Wright-Phillips put City firmly in control of the tie, with AaB failing to make the most of their chances as they returned to Manchester following their 2-2 UEFA Champions League group-stage draw at Manchester United FC earlier this season.
• Prior to this campaign, City had never played a Superligaen side but broke their Danish duck when they met FC Midtjylland in the second qualifying round. They traded 1-0 home defeats with Midtjylland before prevailing 4-2 on penalties.
• City then overcame FC København in the Round of 32, drawing 2-2 in Denmark and winning 2-1 at home. Thus their record against Danish sides now reads P5 W3 D1 L1. Their two away games in Denmark ended in a draw and a win.
• AaB are the second non-English side to face both City and their local rivals Manchester United in competitive games in the same season. Juventus accounted for both Manchester clubs in the 1976/77 UEFA Cup, beating City 2-1 on aggregate in the first round and then overcoming United 3-1 overall in their next tie. AaB lost 3-0 at home to United in this season’s UEFA Champions League group stage but earned a creditable 2-2 draw at Old Trafford.
• AaB have never won against an English side, with their record reading P6 W0 D2 L4. Their home games against English teams have produced a goalless draw and a defeat. They have never scored at home against an English club.
• Prior to this season, City manager Mark Hughes had only encountered Danish opposition four times in competitive games as a player and coach – all at international level. In the preliminary round of the 1988 UEFA European Championship, Wales won 1-0 at home and lost 1-0 away against Denmark. In the qualifiers for UEFA EURO 2000™, with Hughes in the dugout, Wales won 2-1 away and lost 2-0 at home to the Danes.
• AaB’s Swedish coach Magnus Pehrsson had never come up against English opponents prior to the first leg. The former Djurgårdens IF FF midfielder was coach at GAIS Göteborg before agreeing to become AaB’s third coach of the season. Pehrsson briefly played in England for Bradford City AFC, making one loan appearance in the 1996/97 season.
• Former Scottish international Bruce Rioch – who had replaced title-winning boss Erik Hamrén after his move to Rosenborg BK – was in charge at AaB for the start of the UEFA Champions League group stage, overseeing the 3-0 loss to United and quitting after a 6-3 defeat by Villarreal CF.
• He was replaced by his assistant Allan Kuhn on a temporary basis, with the caretaker overseeing an impressive 12-game unbeaten run which included the 2-2 draw at Old Trafford.
• City boast Danish talent in the form of goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, whose father Peter was a team-mate of Hughes’s at Manchester United.
• City have lost just once in ten European games since their home defeat against Midtjylland, going down 3-1 at Real Racing Club in their final UEFA Cup group-stage game.
• That loss to Racing was their only defeat in their last nine European away trips.
• Defeat at City ended AaB’s five-match unbeaten European run, and their record of scoring at least twice in their previous six matches.
• United are the only team to have beaten AaB at home this season, with their other five home games producing four wins and a draw.
• City have only once lost a European tie after winning the home leg, losing 2-0 at Juventus in the first round of the 1976/77 UEFA Cup after a 1-0 victory at Maine Road.
• AaB have won one European tie despite trailing from the away leg, winning 3-0 at home against HJK Helsinki in last season’s UEFA Cup second qualifying round after losing 2-1 in Finland.
• City defender Berti Glauber and AaB counterpart Michael Beauchamp were team-mates at German side 1. FC
Nürnberg between 2006 and 2008.
• AaB midfielder Andreas Johansson spent two-and-a-half years in the Premier League with Wigan Athletic FC between 2005 and 2007. He played two games against the Blues at the City of Manchester Stadium, a 1-0 FA Cup loss and a 1-0 Premier League win.
• Norwegian defender Kjetil Wæhler also played in England, representing Wimbledon FC from 1999 to 2002.
• AaB’s Jamaican striker Luton Shelton scored the opening goal in Sheffield United FC’s 2-1 2007/08 FA Cup fourth round win at home against City. His time with the Blades ran from January 2007 to July 2008.
• AaB are one of four sides left in the UEFA Cup who qualified for European competition as domestic league champions, the others being Galatasaray A? (Turkey), FC Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine) and FC Zenit St. Petersburg (Russia).
• Shaun Wright-Phillips’s strike against AaB saw him move to the top of City’s top scorers list for the season with three goals since the first round of the UEFA Cup.
• Anders Due’s two goals against RC Deportivo La Coruña in the Round of 32 saw him take over as AaB’s top European scorer this season with three goals since the start of the UEFA Champions League group stage. He also scored twice in qualifying, but these goals do not count towards his total.
• City qualified for the UEFA Cup through the UEFA Fair Play system and reached the Round of 32 as Group A
winners. They beat AaB’s Danish rivals København to reach the Round of 16, drawing 2-2 in Copenhagen and winning 2-1 at home.
• Danish champions in 2007/08, AaB’s third-place finish in Group E of the UEFA Champions League earned them a place in the UEFA Cup Round of 32. They made light work of Depor in coach Pehrsson’s first games in charge, winning 3-0 at home and 3-1 in Spain.
• AaB’s only penalty shoot-out in UEFA competition to date ended in a 4-2 spot-kick defeat by HNK Hajduk Split in the first round of the 1987/88 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup. The tie had finished 1-1 on aggregate.
• The 4-2 success at Midtjylland in this season’s UEFA Cup second qualifying round was City’s first penalty shoot-out in UEFA competition.
• AaB’s Thomas Enevoldsen misses the game through suspension, with team-mates Jeppe Curth and Michael
Jakobsen within a booking of a ban.
• City’s Elano Blumer, Micah Richards and Pablo Zabaleta will miss their team’s next European game if they are booked.
• The draw for the quarter-finals and semi-finals takes place

180 Clubs Representing 24 National Associations Receive Solidarity Payments

The European Club Association (ECA) is pleased to announce that UEFA has finalised the financial calculations regarding the highly successful UEFA EURO 2008(TM), and payments can now be made to the national associations for them to pass on to their clubs for their contribution to the successful final tournament in Austria and Switzerland.

These payments form part of the agreement of the historic Memorandum of Understanding, signed between UEFA and ECA on 21 January 2008 that allowed for the dissolution of the so-called G-14 and enabled harmony to return to European club football, and approved by the UEFA Executive Committee at their Zagreb meeting of 29/30 January 2008. The Memorandum of Understanding followed a letter of intent signed by FIFA, UEFA and representatives of the European clubs at the home of FIFA, in Zurich, on 15 January 2008.

The target total amount set for distribution to the national associations from UEFA EURO 2008(TM) was fixed at EUR43.5 million. For UEFA EURO 2012(TM) the target total amount to be distributed is set at EUR55 million, provided the final financial results of UEFA EURO 2012(TM) are substantially similar to those of UEFA EURO 2008(TM).

A total of 180 clubs are set to benefit from their contribution to the success of the final round of UEFA EURO 2008(TM), and together they represent 24 of UEFA’s 53 national associations. For the full list of the clubs, and the total amount received by each club click here. For the full amount per national association click here.

The top three clubs providing players for UEFA EURO 2008(TM) in order were first Werder Bremen, with a total payment of EUR1,093,732, Olympique Lyonnais (EUR1,039,115) and FC Bayern München (EUR1,018,109). Furthermore, clubs which are not currently playing in their top division (Grazer AK, NK Istra Pula, Birmingham City FC, Reading FC, Southampton FC, Sheffield United FC, FC Metz, RC Lens, ES Troyes, FC Kaiserslautern, FSV Mainz 05, KS Hutnik Kraków, GKS Górnik Leczna, Desportivo Aves, FC Kuban Krasnodar, FK Torpedo Moskva, Real Club Celta de Vigo and Vestel Manisaspor) also received a share. Clubs from national associations such as Belgium, Denmark, Ukraine and Moldova, which had no national team at UEFA EURO 2008(TM), will also benefit from payments.

Each club’s share is calculated by the “per player per day” amount multiplied by the number of days each player was at UEFA EURO 2008(TM). The period of time over which the calculation is based begins two weeks before the first match of the player’s national team and ends on the day after the team is eliminated. From this calculation, the relevant percentage of the share is calculated for passing on to the club(s) with which the player was registered in the two years prior to the start of the final tournament.

In order to be eligible for a share of the benefits from UEFA EURO 2008(TM) and for UEFA EURO 2012(TM) clubs were asked to fill in, sign and return a Club Application Form to UEFA, in which they agreed to support national team competitions and to comply with the FIFA regulations on the release of players. Some 636 clubs duly filled in, signed and returned the forms.

Commenting on the payments UEFA President, Michel Platini, said: “It is a testament to the new harmony in European football, and the willingness of associations and clubs to cooperate for the good of the game, that we are able to deliver to the clubs a tangible benefit for their contribution to UEFA EURO 2008(TM).”

“We witnessed a truly fantastic UEFA European Football Championship this summer, both on and off the pitch, one where respect was shown by players, officials and fans alike, and I am pleased that the clubs can now also be a part of that.”

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Chairman of the European Club Association, said: “The European Club Association very much welcomes today’s announcement. It marks a historic moment in recognizing and rewarding the important contribution that football clubs make to the success of European level national team competitions such as EURO 2008(TM). It also underlines the collaborative spirit within the football family in Europe as together we work to shape the future of our game.”

ECA

The European Club Association is the sole, independent body representing football clubs at European level, and takes its place at the high table of European football along with UEFA, and official bodies representing players and the leagues.

The formation of ECA marks an end to disharmony in the European football family, and clears the way for the collaboration of all parties in building the future of the game in Europe. Through ECA, and for the first time in some years, clubs now have a powerful voice in decision-making that shapes the future of professional football in Europe.

ECA replaces the G-14 group and the European Club Forum both dissolved early in 2008 and is fully recognized by UEFA and FIFA. ECA is committed to play a major and constructive role in helping shape the future of football, for the benefit of all concerned with the game.

The UEFA EURO 2008™ ‘Score for the Red Cross’ campaign raised half a million euros which will be used to
help mine victims in Afghanistan rebuild their lives.

June’s UEFA EURO 2008™ tournament in Austria and Switzerland not only offered spectators exciting football; it also provided them with a chance to contribute towards important humanitarian activities.

Through the ‘Score for the Red Cross’ campaign run jointly by UEFA and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) fans could support their national teams while also providing funds to help landmine victims in Afghanistan walk again and play an active role in society. Donations will also support activities of 16 of the participating National Red Cross and Red Crescent societies.

UEFA pledged EUR 4,000 for each actual goal scored during the tournament. There were 77 goals resulting in a total donation of EUR 308,000. In addition, fans contributed more than EUR 200,000 via the web-based campaign where they were able to purchase virtual goals for their favourite teams and help them win the title of most charitable team. Germany won the fundraising competition and showed their humanitarian commitment by donating the largest amount, followed by Spain and the Netherlands.

“I would like to thank football fans for their generous support and the solidarity they showed with mine victims, and congratulate Germany on their fine win,” said UEFA’s director of communications, William Gaillard. “Thanks also to the Austrian FA, Swiss Tourism and TEAM, who were among the many institutions which joined the fans in scoring for the Red Cross and made significant pledges to help make a difference.”

In addition to emergency treatment, victims of landmines require years of rehabilitation and assistance to gain self sufficiency. Recognising this need, the ICRC also provides vocational training and help getting a job.

“The needs are great in Afghanistan,” said Alberto Cairo, head of the ICRC’s programme for the war-disabled in Afghanistan. ”Sadly, the number of people who have lost limbs or suffered other injuries as a consequence of landmines is huge. Out of the 15,000 people who seek assistance at our limb fitting centre each year, over 3,500 will be helped thanks to the generosity of football fans.”

For details please see: www.scorefortheredcross.org