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Weekly Brief - 2008-04-18

The Weely Brief,  highlighting recent soccer industry stories from around the World is provided to San Francisco Seals Fans courtesy of  FMMInternational See below for more information regarding FMMInternational.

Current and past issues of the Weekly Brief can be found in our News/Information section under the "Weekly Brief Archives".

* Americas *                                                  April 18, 2008

Impasse between Dynamo and Houston Goes Public
Houston mayor Bill White complained that one of the Houston Dynamo’s owners recently showed him a letter from MLS commissioner Don Garber hinting at the possibility of moving the team if a stadium deal is not reached with the city soon. During a subsequent news conference, team officials said the price tag on a new stadium had climbed to $105m, up from the $80 to $90m previously estimated, which could make it even harder for both sides to come to an agreement. In a related story, Colorado-based ICON Venue Group began interviewing 5 architectural firms that submitted bids to design the stadium. Sources: the Houston Chronicle; the Houston Business Journal

San Jose Reach Tentative Agreement for New Stadium
Terms of the deal must still be formally approved by the city council next month, but the city of San Jose and the Earthquakes have agreed to a $132m deal that sets the stage for a stadium near the airport as early as 2010. Owner Leo Wolff and his partners would pay $132m for 66 acres of the former FMC manufacturing plant. Of that, about 18 acres will be set aside for the 18,000-seat stadium. Source: the San Jose Mercury News

MLS Increasingly Connected to Argentina
18 Argentines are now playing in MLS and more are in the pipeline as part of a Latin infusion into the league. Part of the reason is that Argentines speak Spanish, which allows them to assimilate more easily than Brazilians, but MLS’s connection with a player agent named Alejandro Taraciuk, who worked with the league before returning to his home in Buenos Aires, has also been a factor. Source: the Sun-Sentinel

Huge Crowd Attends friendly In Seattle
The 4th-largest crowd in Seattle soccer history, 56,416, ‘showed up ready for fun’ on Wednesday at Qwest Field to watch Mexico beat China 1-0. The only bigger soccer crowds turned out for Real Madrid v D.C. United in 2006, Manchester United v Celtic in 2003, and the Seattle Sounders v New York Cosmos NASL match in the Kingdome in 1976. Source: the Olympian

* Europe *

Blatter will Press for Foreign Player Quota Plan
Fifa president Sepp Blatter is pressing on with plans to implement a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ to limit the number of foreign players in the starting XI at clubs to 5, despite Uefa and the European Union’s insistence that the plan violates laws on free movement of labour and could lead to widespread legal action. Blatter would need 75% of the 208 member associations to vote in favour of his proposal at a congress in Sydney in May. Source: the BBC

Leeds Go to Court to Overturn Penalty
Leeds United started their court challenge against the 15-point penalty imposed on the club for entering ‘administration’ (UK chapter 11 equivalent) on the grounds that the Coca-Cola League One acted outside its jurisdiction by docking the points at the start of this season. If the sanction is overturned, Leeds would be thrust into the 2nd automatic promotion place at the expense of Carlisle United with 3 matches left this season. Source: The Times

EPL Goes to Court Over Foreign Satellite Feeds
The EPL filed suit in the high court in order to stop companies supplying equipment that enables British viewers to receive games via a foreign broadcaster rather than BSkyB. QC Leisure and AV Station, which stand accused of supplying domestic decoding cards from Greece and North Africa, claim European law allows the free movement of goods throughout the community and if the cards are available on the market then they can be sold anywhere within the EU. Source: The Guardian

Four Nations Tournament will Begin in 2011
Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland- but not England - are set to play in a Four Nations Tournament beginning 2011. The annual tournament will be hosted by a single country and rotate among the nations, with 2 matches being played on each match-day. Source: The Times

Poland Struggling to Prepare for EURO 2012
Ukraine’s preparation to host EURO 2012 is proceeding well, but Poland’s effort has been beset with problems. The entire governing board of the Polish Football Federation have announced that they will resign because of a corruption and match-fixing scandal; Poland and Uefa have not even settled on which 4 venues will be used; construction of the 65,000 seat stadium in Warsaw has not begun; and the government has agreed to pay 1/3 of the costs towards the stadia in Wroclaw, Gdansk and Poznan (assuming they will be the venues), but the sources for the remaining funding are unclear. Source: The Guardian

Bournemouth’s Takeover Bid Collapses
AFC Bournemouth's administrator Gerald Krasner has revealed that preferred bidders EU UK Ltd have withdrawn their bid to buy the League One club. Krasner told BBC Radio Solent: “The bidder was due to lodge the money by 1700 BST today (Monday) which they haven't. Over the weekend they asked for an extension - I said if they lodged the money even if it was to their order, and released me enough to do some funding, they could have the extension until 22 April. They seemed to be upset at this and have withdrawn their offer.” Source: the BBC

Benitez Still Committed to Liverpool
As the ownership saga at Liverpool rumbles on, manager Rafael Benitez cast doubts about his long-term future after a row over exactly who attended meetings before Christmas with prospective replacement Jurgen Klinsmann, yet Benitez said “At this moment I have 2 years of my contract still to go, I am really pleased and really happy here. And I want to stay. And I want to stay for a long time.” Source: ESPNsoccernet

FA Schedules Meeting with Foreign Owners
FA chairman Lord Triesman will meet with overseas owners of EPL clubs, and their managers, to encourage them to invest more in youth development and also guarantee that players are released for England duty. Source: The Telegraph

FA Back Cardiff for Uefa Cup
Under current Football Association rules, Cardiff City would not qualify for the Uefa Cup even if they beat Portsmouth in the FA Cup Final next month, as Welsh clubs can only qualify through their own competitions. But the FA's professional game board voted to approve their entry at a meeting, with their recommendation expected to be approved by the FA's executive board and subsequently Uefa. (The 3 largest Welsh clubs –Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham - all play in the English League system) Source: The Independent

English Players Lead Man City to FA Youth Cup Triumph
Manchester City secured their 1st FA Youth Cup since 1986 completing 4-2 aggregate victory over Chelsea this week. Only 9 of the 22 players who started are eligible to play for England, and 8 of those 9 lined-up for City. It was also revealed that City’s Youth Academy had cost £20m to run since 1998, but had made the club over $65m from the sale of players. Source: The Telegraph

EPL Clubs to Adopt Rovers’ Business Training Program
Blackburn Rovers' football business training scheme, which teaches 13 and 14-year-olds about business planning and finance of a football club, has proved so successful that it will be extended across the country and adopted by all EPL clubs. Source: Lancashire Evening Telegraph

Big Guns head East
For the 1st time since Roman Abramovich’s purchase, Chelsea will travel to Russia to compete against Lokomotiv Moscow, AC Milan and Sevilla in a cup knockout tournament in August. Chelsea will also play pre-season matches in Guangzhou, China and in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in July. Manchester City and Juventus announced that they will travel to Hong Kong to face 2 teams from South China in the summer also. Sources: CNN and the Press Association

Irish Property Developer Buys 50% of Livingston
Irish property developer Anthony McMullen, who was recently linked with financially troubled SPL side Gretna, has purchased a 50% stake in Scottish First Division club Livingston. The McMullen Group will invest about $4m over the next 3 years, adding to an investment from West Lothian businessman Ged Nixon. Source: the BBC

* Comment: Blatter's Determination *

Fifa president Sepp Blatter’s determination to push for foreign player quotas is almost certain to lead to a protracted political and legal battle. He may be able to garner the necessary 75% of the 208 votes at the Fifa congress in May, but he will struggle to gain the support of the major clubs, the major domestic leagues, and he has already lost the support of Uefa president Michel Platini, normally a staunch ally. Platini has shared Blatter’s belief that soccer needs to ‘return to its roots’, but seems to have conceded that EU regulations are insurmountable and that a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ is unworkable.
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* The information contained herein is believed to be correct, but should not be relied upon as such. All financial figures should be seen as indicative only as they may have been converted from another currency.