A soccer ball identical to the balls to be used in Olympic soccer competition is seen in an Adidas store in Beijing Tuesday July 29, 2008. The ball, called Adidas Magnus Moenia, or Great Wall Star, and featuring the Chinese characters for “China” was specially designed for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

via Yahoo

Our congratulations go to Padania, who were 2-0 winners over the Aramean Syriacs in this year’s VIVA World Cup final.

Padanian fans with their flag (see this photo on Flickr)

The VIVA World Cup is a competition for countries that do not have UN or FIFA recognition. It’s run by the New Football Federations-Board, whose General Secretary is “Luc Misson, a lawyer who represented Belgian footballer Jean-Marc Bosman in a case that led to the Bosman ruling that established greater freedom of movement for professional players in Europe.”

Further reading suggestions: James Montague, author of When Friday Comes: Football in the War Zone, has written a good article about this year’s the VIVA World Cup and Kurdish attempts to join FIFA. There’s also Outcasts!: The Lands That FIFA Forgot, Steve Menary’s book about the footballing nations not recognised by FIFA.

We’ll be passing right through Occitania on our way to South Africa — perhaps we should suggest a game?

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

I have to say that I really enjoy the light-hearted and inclusive feel to this latest video — previous ones didn’t include other people the way this one does. And I say “hats off” because the guy gets paid to do this!

Although he’s a little bit too inconsiderate towards the unwitting “goalkeepers” in this video for my liking, I enjoy the way he uses the urban landscape as his “pitch”. And his skills are pretty decent too.

Thanks for the heads-up, Ian

2010 promises to be a great year for South Africa if everything goes as planned.
Is South Africa ready to host the 2010 World Cup?

Let’s hope it does.

The monument (photo wallyg on Flickr, CC license)

2008 Torch Relay on Google Earth .kml

If you’re in the UK, this is the route through London tomorrow.

It’s interesting to note that the last time there was a purely overland relay was to the 1980 games in Moscow and indeed how few relays have actually been entirely overland (only three: 1936 Berlin, 1972 Munich and 1980 Moscow). The 2004 games in Athens (the torch relay went global, visiting all the previous hosts of the modern games) seems to have set something of a precedent which has been expanded for this year’s games to a route that seems to be a somewhat aimless promotional tour around the world.

Personally I think this is a pity — and possibly even a mistake — as it seems to detract from the value that the torch has (largely accidentally) accrued as symbolic of the ideals of athletic endeavour. That lofty symbolic quality has been replaced by a return of the torch to its original purpose as something of simply promotional value for the hosts.

UPDATE: Here’s a gallery of photos of the disruptions to the relay

• South Africans will be able to watch the 2010 Soccer World Cup for free on SABC or at public viewing events, soccer’s governing body Fifa announced on Monday.

  2010 to stay free on TV

• The national education department is proposing a five- week long school break during the 2010 Soccer World Cup to avoid pupil and teacher absenteeism and a chaotic transport system, the Daily Dispatch Online reported on Wednesday.

  Plan to close schools for World Cup

• Fifa has been forced to build a £400m contingency fund to cater for the possible collapse of the 2010 World Cup.

  Insurers are holding off on a decision to provide coverage for the event in South Africa amid fears that the stadiums will not be ready in time. Assessors for Munich Re, the German insurance giant which insured the 2006 tournament in Germany, are concerned about progress.

  Fifa sets aside £400m for World Cup collapse