Football & Futsal
I am pleased to report that there continues to be a stream of good communication between the 2011 Futsal OC and myself with the Championships only eight months away in Örebro, Sweden.
Just after the last eNews, I went to Örebro, Sweden for a site inspection visit during 15-17 October 2010 and I am pleased to report that everything is on schedule for the 2011 World Deaf Futsal Championships.
Both Idrottshuset and Mellringe Futsal venues were inspected and found to be in excellent conditions worthy to host a World Championship. The capacity at Idrottshuset is 1,800 and at Mellringe it is 500.
The first technical meeting will be hosted on 17 November 2011 at 17:00hrs with the second technical meeting to be hosted on 25 November 2011 at 19:30hrs.
The TD's meeting with all referees will be on 17 November 2011 at 15:30hrs at the same venue before the first technical meeting. The OC is aware of the importance to recruit neural referees for all of Sweden's matches.
The OC will search and decide on the official championship match ball, which will also be FIFA approved. All participating countries will be notified of the official championship match ball by the end of May 2011.
I would like to thank Curt Ljungberg (2011 Futsal WC Administrator), Carl Rasmussen (2011 Futsal WC Member) and Sven Holmberg (2011 Futsal WC President) for their hospitality during my site inspection visit.
The official draw was held in London. Jeff Davis, The England FA National Football Development Manager, kindly offered Wembley to host the draw which was held on 16 March 2011 and also shown live on http://deaf-futsal2011.com There is also a recording of the draw on the official website.
The official draw resulted in:
Women:
Group A
Group B
Group C
Sweden (Host)
Denmark
England
Germany
Belgium
Norway
Russian Federation
Italy
Netherlands
Brazil
Japan
Australia
Poland
Men:
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Sweden (Host) Bulgaria Italy Netherlands Ireland Norway Turkey Ukraine Japan Iran Saudi Arabia Thailand Russian Federation Switzerland Brazil Denmark
The Final Registration Forms will be sent to all participating countries at the beginning of August with a strict 4 November 2011 deadline. This will include all the participating futsal players and officials with first and second choice shirt, shorts and socks colours. All audiograms for new participants ahead of the 2011 World Deaf Futsal Championships must be submitted to ICSD Secretariat by 18 August 2011. If you need an updated audiogram list for your country, please contact Ms. Sue Burnes – controls@ciss.org A reminder has been sent to all participating countries about this.
2012 World Deaf Football Championships
Each of the regional confederations has been informed about the importance to complete their respective regional qualifiers to determine places for the men and women championships before the 29 July 2011 deadline.
This July, I will visit Ankara, Turkey to make a site inspection visit of the facilities including pitches, training venues and hotels, so I will provide a brief summary of my findings in Ankara by the end of July along with the final participant entrants for the Championships.
The 2012 World Deaf Football Championships Men and Women winners will automatically qualify for the 2013 Summer Deaflympics.
Once again, for information, the 2012 World Deaf Football Championships will be held in Ankara, Turkey (10-21 July 2012). More information can be found on www.facebook.com/World.Deaf.Football
2013 Summer Deaflympics Football Championships
A record number of 47 men and 15 women countries completed their preliminary entries for the 2013 Summer Deaflympics Football Championships. With Greece entered in both the men and women football competitions and the 2012 World Deaf Football Champions (men and women) gaining automatic qualification, competition for the final places are going to be tough especially with 45 men countries going to compete against each other for the final 14 places.
The allocation number of football teams from each region for the 2013 Summer Deaflympics has been approved: www.deaflympics.com/pdf/2013TeamAllocation.pdf
All regions must complete their qualification plan by end of June 2012 so if you have not got any information or details of your regional football qualification plans by July 2011, please contact your regional representative respectively:
Africa Peter Kalae africa@ciss.org Americas María de Bendeguz americas@ciss.org Asia Pacific Dennis Tan asiapacific@ciss.org Europe Bjørn Røine europe@ciss.org
Good bye to 2010, hello to 2011
It was sad to see Tiffany Granfors leave ICSD and I would like to take this opportunity to thank her for her dedication and hard work to the organisation. ICSD would not be where we are today without her persistence and influence. Tiffany, we thank you with our hearts.
I was excited to learn at our new CEO Mark Dolley only lives a short train ride from where I live in London, England and it was good to meet Mark for the first time at Wembley for the 2011 World Deaf Futsal Championships draw. I would like to welcome Mark as part of the ICSD family with high hopes for the future of ICSD.
As always, yours in football,
Christof NIKLAUS
ICSD Technical Director - Football/Futsal