Johor FA pounce for Fandi Ahmad

Ex-Singapore goalscoring sensation Fandi Ahmad has penned a three-year contract with Malaysian Premier League (MPL) outfit Johor FA to serve as their technical adviser.

According to a report in The New Paper, Tengku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, the Crown Prince of Johor and the president of Johor FA is widely believed to have convinced local legend Fandi to take up the technical post.

Speaking in a telephone interview with The New Paper, former FC Groningen forward Fandi admitted he had accepted the offer, remarking: "I have been with Johor FA since last week, but officially my first day of work is Feb 2."

"Although I will be the technical adviser, I will also help out in training sessions and I will be with the team rather frequently."

49-year-old Fandi intimated that he has been handed the task of masterminding the club's promotion to the Malaysian Super League (MSL) at the end of next season.

"As you know, the season has already started, and we had three 1-1 draws in five games," he explained.

"We will try our best but I feel there is not enough quality in the team to finish in the top two and gain promotion this season. So our immediate priority is to rebuild, and I hope to secure for Johor FA two foreigners before the Feb 13 deadline."

It is mooted that the former SAFFC tactician has already sought out a Brazilian and a Colombian to ply their trade with the Scorpions.

Fandi's appointment within the coaching set-up of Johor already seems to have paid dividends as after just a solitary training session, the Scorpions earned a 2-1 victory over promotion-favourites Sime Darby last Friday.

According to sources, Tengku Ismail, who is also the Royal Patron of Johor FA, has not been impressed by his side's inconsistent start to their new campaign after they drew against unfancied sides such as Harimau Muda B and Betaria.

After consulting with his father Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar to take over the club as president, Tengku Ismail was believed to have contacted Fandi regarding the offer as technical adviser.

Johor's coup of acquiring Fandi's services is a mammoth blow to Singapore especially after the former 1994 Malaysian Cup winner signaled his intentions to lead the Singapore Under-21 outfit to the AFC Under-22 qualifiers in Brunei this June with the aim of guiding the Young Lions to next year's South-east Asian Games in Myanmar.

Fandi is believed to have already had talks with Zainudin Nordin, president of the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), Prof Ho Peng Kee, FAS adviser and national football coach Raddy Avramovic.

"I've made my intentions known earlier on to the FAS, but Johor FA came in with a concrete offer and I feel I just can't wait any more," Fandi commented.

It is believed that the FAS was interested in consulting Fandi in order to draw up their list of coaches for the year but the former Kuala Lumpur dynamo was already contracted to the Sembawang Soccer Academy.

"Earlier, FAS was keen to have Fandi in its coaching structure. Unfortunately, he had other commitments then," an FAS spokesman said.

"Since then, the coaching structure for the year has been finalised. However, we are definitely keen to work with a national icon like Fandi who also has strong coaching credentials. Youth development is definitely high up our priority list and we will continue to explore ways how we can work together."

Fandi has also reiterated his commitment to contributing back to the local footballing fraternity as he trains ITE players for the H-Two-O Dream Team.

The side recently put up an impressive 2-2 result against the Courts Young Lions before going down on penalties.

"My first year with Johor FA will be something like a part-time basis," Fandi added, "I will go up for around 15 sessions each month and I will still be very much involved with the ITE boys."

Fandi has built up an extensive coaching portfolio ever since his retirement from football in the late 1990s.

He led the Warriors to the S-League championship in 2000 and 2002 in his maiden head coach role.

Fandi also enjoyed international success with the Singapore national team as he served as Avramovic's assistant during the Lions' successful Tiger Cup campaign in 2005.

More recently, he was appointed as manager of Indonesian side Pelita Jaya, guiding the team to promotion from the Second Division and adopting a vigorous youth policy, before leaving in March 2010.

***

sources: espnstar.com

12 Names Referees at Euro 2012

Federation of European Football (UEFA) has released a list of 12 names of referees who will lead the fight in the finals of Euro 2012 Poland-Ukraine. The names of such top referee Howard Webb (England) and Nicola Rizzoli (Italy) on the list the name of the referee.

In addition, for the first time in the history of European Cup, a match will include four assistant referees. UEFA to thank the International Football Association Board (IFAB) for allowing them to apply these new rules in the European Cup this edition. To fill the position of an additional assistant, UEFA appointed Marcin Borski (Poland), Tom Harald Hagen (Norway), Pavel Kralovec (Czech Republic), and Viktor Shvetsov (Ukraine).

The referee is scheduled to arrive in Warsaw, Poland, on 4 June. On April 30 to May 3, the referees will follow the workshop in preparation for duty.

Here are 12 names that will be a court referee at Euro 2012: Cuneyt Cakir (Turkey), Jonas Eriksson (Sweden), Viktor Kassai (Hungary), Bjorn Kuipers (Netherlands), Stephane Lannoy (France), Pedro Proenca (Portugal), Nicola Rizzoli (Italy), Damir Skomina (Slovenia), Wolfgang Stark (Germany), Craig Thomson (Scotland), Carlos Velasco Carballo (Spain), Howard Webb (England)

Additional assistant referees: Marcin Borski (Poland), Tom Harald Hagen (Norway), Pavel Kralovec (Czech Republic), and Viktor Shvetsov (Ukraine).

PSV Eindhoven Cancel Coming, Because there PSSI Conflict

The desire of fans to watch thousands Erdevisie giants, PSV Eindhoven, in the event of Jakarta Challenge had failed to be realized. Party promoter Jakarta Challenge, Soujana Media, cancel a match that should take place on 9 and January 12 are due PSSI violating the contract.

In the official release distributed to media, Soujana states, PSSI can not meet their demand that Indonesia would like to see the best players in this match. PSSI, assessed Soujana, it will lower the player who is not credible in this fight. In fact, in the contract is clearly stated that the PSSI should lower the best players, like Bambang Pamungkas, Cristian Gonzalez, Word Utina, Egi Melgiansyah, and so forth.

"The crisis in the body the Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI) and could not make the appearance of the top players we assessed there was no credible team for this match. It's unfortunate. At the time we promise the best players as stated in the contract, but not PSSI can be met on the other hand," the statement Soujana Media.

In addition, Soujana reasoned, PSSI's decision lowers team of "second tier" that could make them a loss in financial terms. Assessed, not many spectators who will be present in this fight because there is no star players who could suck the public's attention. Soujana Media also predicts, it will be difficult to get sponsorship for the same reason.

"If we continue to hold this match, it will be at risk from the financial side and we do not want to suffer huge losses. We're not too sure ticket sales will cover the cost of bringing PSV to Jakarta," said the Soujana Media.

Soujana actually lamented the cancellation of this because this could adversely impact football Indonesia in the future. This Malaysia-based company said European clubs or international event organizers will think long before deciding to conduct cooperation with PSSI for fear of taking risks on the instability of the football PSSI.

Not only football Indonesia who are disadvantaged, Soujana Media considers that these cancellations will also be detrimental to the young players who actually have a chance to gain knowledge of the world's top players. "We apologize to tens of thousands of Indonesian fans who want to see world class players at the turn of the year," concludes the statement.

India Forcing Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Facebook, censor Content

Government of India has asked Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Facebook to remove content disparaging and slandering politicians. Defamatory and disparaging content that should be automatically erased before online to the internet.

Kapil Sibal, Minister of Telecommunications of India, has summoned executives of four large technology companies. Sibal think that the internet is full of people who despise each other and posting slanderous and should be censored. Four companies have chosen is considered the greatest contribution.

In a meeting with Facebook executives, Sibal expressed clearly enough about the great Indian community that makes up Page contains libel against the Congress Party Sonia Gandhi.

However, the four company executives told Sibal and his cabinet that such a request can not be executed against user generated content originating from India. Too much content that comes from India, and companies are not responsible for defamation or disparaging words of politicians.

The only way to censor the internet is making a legal policy in their respective countries. In the rule of law, India can make a specific policy, because the technology company can not decide whether someone is an online posting slander or intend to belittle.

According to the analyst's Economic Times, something bad about a politician with no evidence on the internet, can be prosecuted as libel. However, if it had to summon executives of technology companies to censor the content in India, it is considered excessive. Polistisi in India seemed to want to be treated as gods and they expect technology companies that can help them do this.

Sibal continue contacting the four technology companies to implement a screening system, in which the administration staff can find objects that are not fun to be erased before being posted.

15 Most Expensive Domain Names in 2011

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.