Futsal referees put through their paces

FIFA.com: All FIFA futsal refs will now be put through the new, rigorous tests. courtesy of Futsalplanet.com The FIFA Futsal Committee has agreed upon a set of physical performance tests for the game’s officials following their latest meeting on 18 October 2002. The decision was enthusiastically approved following recommendations from both the FIFA Sports Medical…

COURTESY RELAY: FIFA Women’s World Cup USA 2003 is just 50 days away as US Soccer and FIFA continue to work behind the scenes to stage the 16-team, 32-match tournament in the USA from Sept 20 to Oct 12 at six soccer venues across the United States. The US was awarded the tournament back on…

The latest FIFA ranking for 30 July 2003 saw both Australia and New Zealand tumble out of the top fifty while elsewhere, OFC nations Fiji, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and Tonga made important gains. New Zealand is now the highest ranked OFC nation in 60th place with its performance at the recent FIFA Confederations been…

FIFA media release – The FIFA Emergency Committee, which convened to ratify matters related to the Olympic Football Tournaments Athens 2004, announced today that it had given its formal approval of the venue and kick-off time for the men’s Final, as well as the format and match schedule for the women’s competition. Today’s announcement confirmed…

BELFAST: Oceania’s two representatives at the Northern Ireland Milk Cup finished on a good note with Samoa taking out the tournament’s prestigious Fair play award while for the second consecutive time, Otago were able to survive a tense penalty shootout to record its second win finishing fifth overall in the Premier Division (U17). For Samoa,…

OFC, Belfast: There was much to celebrate at the Northern Ireland Milk Cup yesterday with Otago recording its first win of the tournament, albeit a close shave against Dundalk where the final result was decided on penalties. However, patches of brilliance were not enough for Oceania’s other representative as Samoa fell to its fifth straight…

OFC: Following a promising trend which has seen them improve with every match so far in the Northern Ireland Milk Cup, the Samoa national U15 team came within a whisker of a possible upset victory over Kilmarnock yesterday, going down eventually 1-0 courtesy of a questionable penalty decision. The 0-1 loss was a morale boosting…

OFC: Three match officials from the OFC have been appointed to the FIFA U-17 World Championship in Finland from 13-30 August 2003. Referee Charles Ariiotima and assistant referee, Daniel Tauaroa, both from Tahiti, will join Vanuatu assistant referee, Gray Vuke, in Finland. It will be the first appointment to a FIFA tournament for the threesome….

OFC: The Samoa and Otago youth teams both lost their third consecutive matches of the group qualifying section yesterday and are now out of contention for the Milk Cup quarterfinals in Northern Ireland. Samoa, competing in the junior division, went down 0-7 (0-3 half-time) to English side Preston North End while Otago, competing in the…

BELFAST: The Samoa and Otago youth teams both went down in their first up matches at the Northern Ireland Milk Cup on Saturday, 19 July. Samoa were overwhelmed by local side Country Armagh 11-0 Mourneview Park, Lurgan, while Otago put up a good fight but were beaten by Greek side Panathinaikos 1-0 at Rugby Avenue…