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The legacy continues to grow. Nine months after the close of the FIFA U-20 World Cup Canada 2007, another award has been bestowed upon the largest single-sport event ever held in Canada. Today, it was the Canadian Sports Tourism Alliance and its second-annual CSTA PRESTIGE Awards. The FIFA U-20 World Cup was selected as the CSTA Sport Event of the Year (budget over $250,000).
“The FIFA U-20 World Cup Canada 2007 has provided a terrific springboard from which our sport can grow by leaps and bounds in the coming years,” says Peter Montopoli, Canadian Soccer Association General Secretary and former National Event Director for the FIFA U-20 World Cup Canada 2007.
The Soccer Hall of Fame welcomed its newest class of inductees on Saturday 26 April. Four players, five builders, one pioneer and one team of distinction was celebrated at the ninth annual induction banquet.
The four inducted players were Jack Brand, John McGrane, Helen Stoumbos and Walter Bowman. Brand was a goalkeeper in the old North American Soccer League. He was the winning goaltender in Soccer Bowl ’78 with the New York Cosmos. McGrane, a midfielder and defender, played in more than 200 NASL games for three different teams. Stoumbos was a member of Canada’s 1995 World Cup team in Sweden. Bowman, meanwhile, holds the distinction of being the first player born outside of the British Isles to play in England’s Football League.
The message is loud and clear. One day after announcing the date and location for Canada’s first home leg in the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ Qualifiers, Canadians from coast to coast have been asked to get behind the national team. With an unprecedented surge in popularity within Canada for the global game, Montréal will have the first opportunity to support the men’s national team in the world’s most important tournament. That first task is scheduled for 20 June at Stade Saputo.
“One of the things that can certainly help us during the qualifying process is the fan support,” says coach Dale Mitchell. “I have to admit to being a little envious to what has gone on in the last year or so within Canada. (At the Toronto FC home opener), there was a sea of red in the stands cheering on the team. I can tell you as an ex-player that that would have been a great lift to the team.”
Listen to Dale Mitchell : Clip 1 | Clip 2
The Canadian Soccer Association has announced that the Canadian leg of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ Qualifiers series against Saint Vincent & the Grenadines will take place on Friday 20 June 2008 at Stade Saputo in Montréal, QC. The match will kick off at 19.30.
Canada has been drawn into a Group E at the official draw for the 2008 Women’s Olympic Football Tournament in China. Canada has been draw into a group with Argentina, Sweden (Sverige) and hosts China.
“I am quite pleased with a reasonable draw,” says coach Even Pellerud. “Of course, it will be a challenge to play the host (China), but I am happy we don’t play them in the first match.”
Twenty-eight sides discovered the hurdles they will have to overcome to reach the second round in this year’s Olympic Football Tournaments when the official draw took place today in Beijing, the capital of China PR. The line-up for the group stage of the global competition, which will be staged in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenyang and Qinhuangdao from 6 to 23 August, threw up pairings that are interesting and exciting in equal measure.
In the women’s event, China were grouped with Sweden and Canada, who knocked them out in the quarter-finals of the FIFA Women’s World Cup USA 2003, while the defending champion US have been drawn together with 2000 Olympic champions Norway, alongside Asia’s emerging power Japan and New Zealand. Two-time world champions Germany will not have it easy, either, with Korea DPR and Brazil set to test them.
À la suite du tirage au sort officiel du Tournoi Olympique de Football Féminin, qui a eu lieu ce dimanche 20 avril en Chine, l’équipe canadienne féminine senior s’est vue placée dans le Groupe E, aux côtés de la Chine, de l’Argentine et de la Suède.
« Je suis plutôt content de ce tirage au sort raisonnable, a déclaré l’entraîneur-chef de l’équipe nationale canadienne féminine senior, Even Pellerud. Bien sûr, ce sera un grand défi pour nous de devoir affronter le pays hôte (la Chine), mais je suis quand même heureux que nous ne l’affronterons pas au cours du premier match du tournoi. »
Les vingt-huit équipes qualifiées pour les deux Tournois Olympiques de Football connaissent depuis ce dimanche la difficulté de leur tâche, à l’issue du tirage au sort officiel qui a eu lieu à Pékin, capitale de la RP Chine. Le premier tour de la grande joute internationale se disputera, du 6 au 23 août, sur les pelouses de Pékin, Shanghai, Tianjin, Qinhuangdao et Shenyang. Comme on pouvait s’y attendre, le tirage la réservé quelques affiches aussi passionnantes que indécises.
Chez les femmes, le tirage a accouché de la revanche de la dernière Coupe du Monde Féminine de la FIFA avec l’Allemagne opposée au Brésil dans le groupe F. Autre affiche au programme de la phase des poules, l’affrontement programmé dans le groupe G entre deux nations favorites, les USA et la Norvège.
Le tirage au sort officiel des Tournois Olympiques de Football, Pékin 2008 se tiendra à Pékin (Chine) ce dimanche à 19h00, heure locale.
Vingt-huit équipes (seize chez les hommes et douze chez les femmes) disputeront cet été, du 6 au 23 août 2008, les Tournois Olympiques de Football dans les villes de Pékin, Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenyang et Qinhuangdao.
