PIO Neil Taylor part of Team GB at London Olympics

23 year old 'Player of Indian Origin' Neil Taylor, who plays his international football for Wales, has been included in the final 18 player squad of Team Great Britain for the football tournament at the 2012 London Olympics.

There had been a lot of debate since London won the rights to host the 2012 Olympics about the football teams composition then the Home Nations of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) are represented by their own national teams in FIFA and UEFA competitions.

In the end the 18 players squad announced last week is made-up of 13 English and five Welsh players with no players from Scotland and Northern Ireland. Micah Richards, Ryan Giggs and Craig Bellamy have been included as the three over-age players in the Under-23 competition with 38 year old Ryan Giggs named as captain and Stuart Pearce will be the manager.

For Neil Taylor, whose mother is originally from Calcutta, plays his club football for English Premier League side Swansea City FC and for him it is a great honour to have been picked to represent Team GB at the 2012 Olympics in London.

Jens Lehmann: Coaching Degree in Wales

Former German international goalkeeper Jens Lehmann is set to start his coaching licence degree soon, but not in his home country of Germany instead in Wales which has only been made possible by a special exemption from European football governing body UEFA.

The German FA (DFB) in 2011 had held a special shorter coaching licence course for former internationals who had represented Germany in more then 20 international matches. The course combined the DFB 'B' and 'A' coaching licence with no one year practical experience as is usual for the 'A' licence coaching degree. Former internationals like Oliver Kahn, Stefan Effenberg and Thomas Strunz took part with Jens Lehmann also supposed to take part, but he dropped out as he returned to FC Arsenal last season as back-up goalkeeper.

Now Lehmann has been looking for options where he could get his coaching degree with short attendence intervals and longer presence at practical units which has led him to the Football Association of Wales. Now getting the okay from UEFA he will be able to do his coaching degree with his practicals set to be at his former team FC Arsenal Reserves.

But UEFA is set to discuss this issue over the summer to avoid coaching degree tourism amongst former internationals in nations which suit their plans rather then the rules which should apply for everyone.

Best dribblers in world football

German weekly sports magazine Sport Bild came out this week with a list of the top 20 dribblers in world football. The list of players includes a number of players from across the decades, whose name some might not have heard, while being a German publication they could have been a little pro-German players too.

I totally agree with Maradona on top, but the question is if Messi has done enough to be number two in such a ranking???

Would you agree??? Or would your list include a different set of players.


Top 20 Dribblers

01. Diego Armando Maradona (Argentina)
02. Lionel Messi (Argentina)
03. Garrincha (Brazil)
04. Stan Matthews (England)
05. Ronaldinho (Brazil)

06. George Best (Northern Ireland)
07. Reinhard 'Stan' Libuda (Germany)
08. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (Germany)
09. Ronaldo (Brazil)
10. Zinédine Zidane (France)

11. Brian Laudrup (Denmark)
12. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)
13. Pierre Littbarski (Germany)
14. Ryan Giggs (Wales)
15. Jay-Jay Okocha (Nigeria)

16. Allan Simonsen (Denmark)
17. Kevin Keegan (England)
18. Kaká (Brazil)
19. Mehmet Scholl (Germany)
20. Romário (Brazil)

AsiaEurope's OneCulture Football Festivals in the UK

AsiaEurope Football has launched the biggest ever United Kingdom wide search for a professional footballer. From May onwards there will be seven regional qualifiers until the finals in December to find the best talent amongst Asians in the UK. Up to 10,000 playser are set to take part.

AsiaEurope Football's Majid Lavji said, "OneCulture Football Festival is a showcase for football bodies to join together and support Ethnic minorities in the UK to break down the stereotypical barriers."

AsiaEurope became the first National football festival for Asians and Ethnic minorities in 2003 when it launched in Liverpool, with leading football organisations - the festival has grown over the years and visited many cities and is now known as 'OneCulture Football Festival'.

AsiaEurope adheres to all FA's policies on openness in football and the OneCulture football festival is open to all but highlights Asian Football in the UK.


The 'OneCulture Football Festival' will be held at the following Powerleague Venues

May 28/29: Manchester (North West England)
June 25/26: Leeds/Bradford (North East & Yorkshire)
July 30/31: Glasgow (Scotland)
September 3/4: Birmingham (West Midlands)
September 17/18: Derby (East Midlands)
October 30/31: Cardiff (Wales)
November 26/27: London (South England)
December 17/18: UK Finals


AsiaEurope Football invites football clubs, football authorities and government organisations to embrace the festival which is taking place around UK. We are urging our peers to stop paying lip service, and open their doors to the immense football talent in the UK.


The festival will incorporate
• Football tournaments up to 5 categories
• Football coaching from professional coaches
• Free style football festival and show
• Product launches
• Player advise from AsiaEurope football agency
• Career advice in sports and football management
• Business networking in sport and football
• Exhibition and trade stands


Tournament History
The One Culture Football festival, originally called the AsiaEurope Football Festival, started in 1999; its mission "to create a tournament which aimed to unite cultures through football, by encouraging people from all backgrounds to play together, we hope to help promote tolerance and understanding in all aspects of life".

The tournament became the largest Ethnic Football Festival in Europe, with the backing of leading football and government organisations.

From 2007 AsiaEurope Football Festival became known as OneCulture Football Festival due to the number of tournaments which were being scheduled outside of Europe including India, Pakistan, China and Africa.

About Powerleague
Is the champion of 5-A-Side, offering 45 state-of-the-art football centres across the UK. With more pitches and centres than any other provider, it's no wonder more 5-A-Side football players trust Powerleague than anyone else! Kick-off day and night with Powerleague and score in one of our super Soccerdomes, whatever the weather.

Draws will be performed by Local County FA or leading local football organisation – one week prior to each regional festival.

Wales: The Premier League dream

Last week while in London I met an old friend in football who happens to be from Wales. And while we were having our coffee he told me about the upcoming south Wales derby in the English Championship and how high expectations were in Wales from these two teams to fulfill the dreams of the Welsh to have a team amongst the best in the English Premier League. After hearing about it, I got a little curious so started reading about it to find out more.

Yesterday then finally saw the Battle of Wales in the English Championship, the second tier of English football, being played out by league leaders Cardiff City FC and third placed Swansea City AFC. The south Wales derby saw Swansea beat their famed rivals by a goal to nil at the Cardiff City Stadium which saw its highest ever club attendence at 26,049, just short of the stadium capacity at 26,828. This meant Ccardiff City are now second behind Queens Park Rangers and Swansea a close third.

Some will now ask why do Welsh clubs play in the English league system? Simply put clubs like Cardiff City and Swansea have been part of the Football League since they were founded. And as you would think the competition in the English leagues is much higher then in the League of Wales, which at best can be called semi-professional.

Surely football isn't the number one sports in Wales, which happens to be rugby; but at club level it is the biggest sport with clubs like Cardiff City, Swansea and Wrexham. And especially with Cardiff City and Swansea both pushing for Premier League promotion people are hopeful their football will improve.

One Welsh player who will be known around the world after his exploits for Tottenham Hotspurs against Internationale Milan over the last few weeks in the UEFA Champions League is 21 year old Gareth Bale, who originally is from Cardiff. But Wales have no real chance in their group to qualify for Euro2012.

The hope is that either Cardiff City or Swansea make it to the Premier League or ideally both to give Welsh football a push in the right direction. Welsh star Craig Bellamy returned to Cardiff City on loan from Manchester City FC to help in their ambition to make it to the Premiership after the club has failed to get into the top tier for the last six, seven years. Last season they failed against Blackpool.

The hope is also if these clubs make it into the Premier League then Welsh players have a chance to play at home or closer to home, which could help both the concerned club and the national team, which has had outstanding players like Ryan Giggs, but not a quality team overall which could get into European Championships or World Cup's.

The dream lives on and the hope that at least one of these two clubs get back into the Premier League.

Wales: Money or Home Advantage?

The Football Association of Wales will soon have to take a difficult call on where to play their 2012 European Championship Group G qualifier home tie against neighbours England in March 2011. Currently the plan is to organise the tie at the Millennium Stadium, while coach John Toshack wants it to be shifted to new, but much smaller Cardiff City Stadium.

Why is the coach asking for the shift? The 74,000 seater Millennium Stadium is the national stadium of Wales, but often in qualifying and other friendly matches the ground is not full, often not even half full. The new 26,828 seater Cardiff City Stadium had last year successful hosted a friendly against Scotland, which the players and coaching staff regard now as their new home. And as a result next weeks home qualifier against Bulgaria will be played at the Cardiff City Stadium.

Also Wales' track record at the Millennium Stadium isn't the best. Over the last decade they have played 26 qualifying matches and only won eight of them, mostly against minnows of European football. But the match against England would most likely be a sell-out game and such a shift to the smaller venue would cost the Welsh FA most likely more then a Million Pounds. And the FA in Wales isn't one of the richest in Europe, so they need all possible income especially from such big games.

The question is then, do you want the money or use the home advantage? For John Toshack it is clear, he as the coach wants the home advantage at a small venue with strong vocal home support which could intimidate the English players. Add in an early goal for Wales to the flavour then you have game on. But then on the other side the Welsh FA has to look at their finances and does a Welsh win really give them a chance to qualify for the 2012 European Championships? A difficult one to answer...