U-20 World Cup Bolsters Istanbul Bid
FIFA president Sepp Blatter says the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey will be a good test of the country’s potential to stage future international events such as the Euros or Olympic Games.
The 24-team tournament, the same size as UEFA’s proposed Euro 2020 format, will feature 52 matches played across 23 days in seven venues for the largest football event ever to held in Turkey.
Speaking at the U-20 World Cup Summit in Zurich on Thursday, Blatter suggested a well-run tournament next year would boost Turkey’s ambitions to secure more high-profile sporting events.
The government is backing Istanbul’s 2020 Olympics bid, while the Turkish FA has expressed interest in pitching for UEFA Euro 2020 if that bid fails.
"The performance will be a good rehearsal for organizations to be made in the future," he was quoted as saying on the Turkish Football Federation’s website.
Blatter underlined that FIFA had entrusted Turkey with organizing its second largest competition and stated his confidence in the country’s abilities to put on a good show.
For more from Thursday’s summit, visit World Football INSIDER.
New African Swimming Chief
Sam Ramsamy is the new president of the African Swimming Confederation, Around the Rings is told.
The IOC member from South Africa, already a FINA vice president, won roughly three-fourths of the votes in Thursday’s election, staged on the sidelines of the 11th African Swimming Championships in Nairobi, Kenya.
Chief Thomas Olatokunboh of Nigeria was the other candidate.
Outgoing president Mustapha Larfaoui, who headed FINA from 1988 to 2009 and represented Algeria on the IOC until 2009, did not stand for reelection Thursday but was voted honorary life president after a proposal from Ramsamy.
Also in Nairobi for the biennial championships is current FINA president Julio Cesar Maglione of Uruguay.
IAAF on Exhibit
IAAF leaders are billing their Centenary Historic Exhibition as the greatest collection of athletics memorabilia ever assembled.
The exhibit, bound for the Juan Antonio Samaranch Olympic and Sports Museum in Barcelona, is part of the federation’s year-long centenary celebrations.
Based on the design of an athletic track, the exhibition will include eight "lanes" themed around the history of the IAAF and its founding members; the greatest athletes of the Olympic Games and IAAF World Athletics Series; the development of the IAAF competition program; the achievement of the six continental confederations; the role of women in sport; technical developments; the greatest competition moments and stars of the last 100 years; and an overview of the IAAF's goals for the next 100 years.
The exhibit will be open to the public from Oct. 13 to Nov. 25 before closing on the weekend of the IAAF Centenary Gala, also in Barcelona.
Written by Mark Bisson and Matthew Grayson
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