Football Association to abstain from Fifa poll

 The English Football Association (FA) will abstain from casting a ballot in the Fifa presidential election in a protest against both Sepp Blatter and Mohammad Bin Hammam.The FA board made the decision yesterday after new corruption claims were made last week at a British parliamentary inquiry against the Fifa executive committee and Qatar over the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups."The FA board has today agreed to abstain in the vote for the presidency of FIifa," FA chairman David Bernstein said in a statement. "There are a well-reported range of issues both recent and current which, in the view of the FA board, make it difficult to support either candidate."Blatter was elected Fifa president in 1998 and is seeking a fourth four-year term. Having been re-elected unopposed in 2007, Blatter is facing his first challenger since he beat Eisa Hayatou in 2002.Blatter said shortly before the FA announced its decision.Fifa is currently investigating the validity of claims that executive committee members Hayatou and Jacques Anouma were paid to vote for Qatar, which was awarded the 2022 World Cup.David Triesman, the chairman of the FA until last May, also told lawmakers thatfourlong-standing Fifa executive committee members -Jack Warner, Nicolas Leoz, Ricardo Teixeira and Worawi Makudi  engaged in "improper and unethical" conduct in the 2018 bidding, which was won by Russia.The FA is still unhappy that England only received two votes in last December's vote for the 2018 World Cup. One FA board member, Roger Burden, was acting chairman at the time of the vote but withdrew his application to take the job on a full-time basis because he said he could no longer trust Fifa."The FA values its relationships with its international football partners extremely highly," said Bernstein, Burden's successor as FA chairman. "We are determined to play an active and influential role through our representation within both UEFA and Fifa. We will continue to work hard to bring about any changes we think would benefit all of international football."Blatter said he tried to persuade Bernstein to back him at a meeting at Wembley Stadium in April."He asked me what Fifa can do for England and I put it the other way, ‘What can England do for Fifa with their efficient Premier League?'" Blatter said in Zurich.

Club vice chairman says: Maradona to take over as Al Wasl coach next season

                                                           

　

Argentina legend Diego Maradona is to take over as coach next season at Dubai's Al Wasl, the club vice-chairman Marwane Ben Bayatt announced on Monday.

"We have reached an agreement with Maradona and we will release details later," Ben Bayatt said. Maradona is to lead the team for the next two seasons, the Al Wasl Sports Club said in a statement on Monday.Details of Maradona’s contract will be revealed during a press conference that is expected to be held in the presence of the new coach during the first of week of June.The 50-year-old Maradona was manager of the Argentina national side at last year's World Cup in South Africa, but lost his job after they lost 4-0 to Germany in the quarter-finals.He paid a visit to the Al Wasl training facility and headquarters on Saturday when club officials said an announcement could be made shortly.Al Wasl are currently fourth in the domestic league and have been looking for a coach since firing Sergio Farias in March.Speculators were earlier saying if the deal was confirmed, don't be too surprised to see other stars like Pedro, Messi, Puyol, Iniesta, Pique or Xavi also coming down to visit the club in Dubai in the near future.Not because the high-profile Maradona would be the manager, but because of a certain Albert Benaiges who has taken over as the director of youth development at the club.FC Barcelona, due to play for the UEFA Champions League title against Manchester United on May 28, had seven of their members in the 2010 Fifa World Cup in South Africa. And Benaiges is the one who can rightly take the credit for making these players into stars for the modern generation in his capacity as technical director of FCB Escola - the Catalan club's in-house academy.

I am just the one who was entrusted with the task of guiding these players and I did my job. I was like the potter and they were the clay in my hands," Benaiges told Gulf News on the sidelines of the 1st Dubai International Football Academies Forum held earlier this week.