Exhibition matches kickoff new season

Major European clubs doing promotional tours as means to raise bank balance and image

As leading European sides continue their ever more elaborate pre-season tours, the unavoidable conclusion is that building up the bank balance, rather than team spirit, is the name of game.
David Beckham has already started to repay Real Madrid some of his transfer fee, costing up to 35 million euros, by underlining his popularity in Asia.
Real, who have embarked on a two-week tour that includes games in Beijing, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Bangkok, are bound to reap the merchandising benefits of having probably the most popular figure in world soccer in their team.
The Spanish giants already announced an Asian marketing deal worth 22 million euros last month, and the prospect of Beckham's presence for several years to come will warm the hearts of Real Madrid's money men.
They already have an inkling of what lies ahead after last week's rapturous welcome in Kunming, China, where thousands of people, some waving "I love you Beckham" placards, were lining the streets to greet them.
Tapping the vast potential of the U.S. market is meanwhile the aim of Beckham's former club, Manchester United, who are currently on a four-game, 16-day tour taking them to Seattle, New Jersey, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.
Manchester United, whose opponents include Juventus, Barcelona and Celtic, already have lucrative sponsorship deals with top U.S. companies such as sportswear giant Nike (a 13-year-deal worth 450 million pounds), brewer Anheuser-Busch and Pepsi, plus a marketing tie-up with America's richest baseball team, the New York Yankees.
Individual clubs have not been the only ones, though, to drive this search for even bigger marketing coups.
England's FA Premier League is pioneering its own tournament with the Asia Cup, which was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia last week, featuring big-spending Chelsea, Newcastle United and Birmingham City, plus the Malaysian national side.
Asian broadcaster ESPN Star Sports, which is covering the event, has said Japan and South Korea have indicated an interest in hosting future editions of the tournament, which it and the Premier League are aiming to make a permanent fixture.
At the same time Liverpool played in Thailand and Hong Kong as they too court the Asian market for soccer.
Less lucrative, but equally exotic is Tottenham Hotspur's trip to South Africa at the invitation of the bid committee of that country's attempt to host the 2010 World Cup.
Spurs played the Orlando Pirates and the Kaizer Chiefs as South Africa seeks to impress the world ruling body FIFA with its passion for the game at club level to earn the rights to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
However, the irony of all these high-profile tours is that the English premier league clubs are also the first to complain about losing players during the season to international friendly matches, from which they derive no financial benefit.
Complaints soon ring in the ears of national coaches that players are playing too often, travelling too far for 'meaningless games' and exposing their aching limbs to even more injuries.
There is one obvious way in which top clubs can ease the wear and tear on their most prized assets.
But they could prepare for the new season in a more sober fashion, one that would spare players the energy-sapping trans-continental flights and tropical training pitches. Or is the lure of shirt-sales just too great?
Italian clubs have also joined the foray. Juventus and AC Milan are on a tour of North America for their pre-season friendly matches. Although AC Milan canceled one of their games against Glasgow Celtic to give their charges more rest.
However, what has made headlines in Italy is an issue surrounding lower division clubs. More than six weeks after the end of the season no-one knows which teams, or even how many, will play in Italy's Serie B when it kicks off again later this month.
At the heart of the matter is the decision by Sicilian club Catania to take to the law courts to fight relegation. This caused such confusion that last weekend Italian daily - Corriere della Sera - published four different versions of Serie B's final standings.
The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI), which acts as a general sport watchdog in the country, has had enough.
"The situation has become unsustainable," CONI president Gianni Petrucci said in a statement early in the week. "The championship risks never seeing the light of day."
Catania drew 1-1 with Siena in April, but were later awarded the full three points by the Italian Soccer League because the club said their opponents had used a player serving a two-match ban.
Siena appealed and had the ruling overturned, prompting Catania to take their complaint to a regional court in Sicily, which found in their favour.
The matter would have made few headlines but for the fact the two extra points were the difference for Catania between 17th in Serie B, the last automatic relegation spot, and safety.
The court decision should have left Venezia and Napoli, who ended the season equal on points, going head-to-head in a playoff for Serie B survival. But that is now unlikely to happen.
To further muddy the waters, Venezia demanded the result of a match they lost to Catania in May be reversed because, they alleged, their opponents used a suspended player in that match.
The authorities agreed and awarded Venezia the three points, the loss of which had the effect of sending Catania down again. But the Sicilians returned to the law courts to contest that decision and are now awaiting a verdict.
No one from the Italian Soccer Federation would comment, but it has postponed a meeting scheduled last week and frantic negotiations are going on behind closed doors.
"The soccer federation should adopt an exceptional and never-to-be-repeated solution that will end this once and for all," said Petrucci.
One option is to let Catania, Venezia and Napoli stay in Serie B and have 21 clubs next season instead of the usual 20.
But that may encourage other teams to follow Catania's example and seek justice in ordinary law courts, which is prohibited under the statutes of FIFA, soccer's world governing body. The practice of settling match results in civil courts paralyzed Brazilian club soccer three seasons ago.
"The soccer federation will fight in every way to defend the autonomy of sporting justice," Franco Carraro, federation president, told reporters recently.
Another idea being discussed is to bring forward a planned Serie B expansion to allow 24 clubs in the league from next season, saving not only Catania, Napoli and Venezia but also the other three relegated teams - Genoa, Cosenza and Salernitana.
Whatever solution is found, it will need to be found quickly - the Serie B fixture list is due to be published shortly and the new season kicks off at the end of the month (August).
One player who will be looking forward to his new life in the Italian Serie B is the former Chelsea striker Gianfranco Zola.
He is already making a big impression with new club Cagliari. Cagliari coach Giampiero Ventura has quickly become a fully signed-up member of the Zola fan club.
He said: "It's a show to watch Zola train, it is really wonderful to watch him take free-kicks. In the athletic tests and the speed tests he (Zola) had the best results of all of the players."
Zola, 37, who was born and raised in Sardinia, ended his Chelsea love affair to help a club languishing in Serie B.

Publication Date: 2003-08-03
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=3016