CHAMPIONS LEAGUE NOT A PART OF FTP

The International Cricket Council ( ICC ) has made a clear statement contradicting Indian Premier League (IPL) Commissioner Lalit Modi's claims. Modi had mentioned earlier that Champions League has already been slotted in as part of the FTP but ICC made it clear that the Champions League Twenty20 was not part of its Future Tours Programme.

The Champions League Twenty20 is an event that will be hosted in India from ctober 8-23. It features domestic teams from Australia, England, India, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies which have excelled in T20 form of the game.

"The FTP does not include any fixtures between domestic teams, even those from more than one country, and only features ICC events, such as the ICC Cricket World Cup, the ICC Champions Trophy and the ICC World Twenty20, and bilateral fixtures between Full Member international teams," Haroon Lorgat,ICC Chief Executive said in a statement.

Lalit Modi is already very happy with the huge success of IPL season two which was held in South Africa and now expects the Champions League gets the same or more amount of appreciation.

An event which involves clash of the T20 champs from seven countries around the world is just what people are expecting and this league is brings that to live. Lets hope the event starts as soon as possible and is a big success.

BARCELONA THRASHES MANCHESTER UNITED

The high profile match between Manchester united and Barcelona kicked off at Stadio Olympico in Rome.The Champions League finals was simply the contest between 2 of the best teams in Europe at the present.Manchester United were the favourites to lift the cup and retain the trophy for the 2nd consecutive year, thereby creating a record.Barcelona had a depleted defense with Abidal and Alves suspended,Marquez and Milito injured.Puyol was shifted to the right back position, with Toure and Gerard occupying the centre back position and leaving ageing Sylvinho on the left-back position.Sylvinho's job was to stop Ronaldo and considering his age, he managed the young lad pass him only once in the entire course of the match.Anderson was blocked by Toure in the 2nd minute of the game which handed United their chance to open the score. Barcelona were lucky to keep the score down when Ronaldo's dangerous free kick was saved by the in-form Valdes.Barcelona were taunted by their last year's semifinal match.Ronaldo kept firing every ball for the 1st 10 min keeping all the fans on the edge of their seats.It certainly seemed that United would lift the cup.

Barcelona slowly picked up form as Xavi,Iniesta and Messi started controlling the game.Barca scored in the 10th min,when Iniesta's pass found ETO'O.ETO'O made a sharp cut passing Vidic and fired the ball at the near post.Van Der Sar was helpless.Thereafter United never got to touch the ball.Barcelona picked up their form and played at their peak.Henry missed a golden chance as Van Der Save made an excellent save thereby keeping United's hopes alive.Xavi was handed a free kick when Iniesta was pushed at the edge of the box.Xavi's free kick hit the post.Barcelona were gaining momentum and United couldn't do anything.In the 70th minute,Puyol stole a pass and passed the ball to Xavi.Xavi chipped the ball to messi who was waiting in air to head the ball.The "LITTLE GOD" never scores with a header and has never scored against the English teams.What a time to do it?United lost their hopes and Sir Alex was shattered. Barcelona had a chance of scoring the 3rd.This time it was Puyol who made a fine run from the back.Xavi fed the ball to Puyol and Van Der Sar made an excellent save yet again saving UNITED the humiliation.

MESSI proved he is the best and RONALDO proved why he doesnt deserve the "WORLD PLAYER OF THE YEAR" award.Messi was outstanding the entire night.United players grew furious and earned 3 yellow cards(Ronaldo,Scholes,Vidic).Barcelona maintained the tempo throughout the game and played football at its best.Barcelona deserved to win.Messi was the highest scorer of this year's champions league with 9 goals in his bag.ETO,MESSI and HENRY share 100 goals between them this year in all competitions.BARCELONA are the first Spanish team to win the treble.

Barcelona recruited a rookie manager after Rijkaard's exit.PEP GUARDIOLA had a dream debut season with 3 trophies already.Pep is the youngest manager(38) to win the champions league and 6th person to win the champions league both as a player and as a manager.Spanish success continues after 'EURO 08' win.MESSI will be given the "FIFA WORLD PLAYER OF THE YEAR 09" AND THE "BALLON D' OR" for his performance. BARCA played with style.

KKR - Richest In Terms Of Brand Value

It might have been a bad season for Kolkata Knight Riders, an IPL franchise owned by bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan. The team showed a poor performance par beyond expectations in the second season held in South Africa, but it has still bagged the richest team of the T20 tournament in terms of brand value.

The evaluation was carried out by a UK based international brand valuation firm Intangible Business, in collaboration with MTI Consulting.

"Winning games is not enough to build a successful sports brand. Teams need to engage the local community, attract star players, who inspire a wide audience, and develop a strong marketing communications programme," Intangible Business International Director Richard Yoxon said.

"Brand values are a reflection of a brand's ability to generate future income. It is a forward looking study that uses historic performance and future trends to predict future activity," MTI Consulting CEO Hilmy Cader said.

The team performance will fluctuate every year and the success of a team depends on the current form of the player but the brand remains constant. The brand is highly responsible for long term commercial sustainability and success of the IPL franchises, MTI Consulting said in a statement.

Team owner Shah Rukh Khan who was very much disappointed with the team performance this year has got something which he can feel proud of and help the team come up big and strong for the next season.

The ranking of eight teams along with thier respective brand values are given below.

1. Kolkata Knight Riders - USD 22 million
2. Delhi Daredevils - USD 19 million
3. Chennai Super Kings - USD 19.4 million
4. Mumbai Indians - USD 17 million
5. Kings XI Punjab - USD 15 million
6. Royal Challengers Bangalore - USD 14 million
7. Hyderabad Deccan Chargers - USD 11 million
8. Rajasthan Royals - USD 10 million

INTER-C|-|/-\|\/|P!O|\|S of ITALY

INTER-MILAN were crowned champions of ITALY after their city rivals AC MILAN failed to register a win against UDINESE. Udinese won 2-1 against Milan. Inter Milan were crowned champions for the 17^th time in SERIE-A history. Milan was in race for the scudetto but lost momentum in the mid-season. In the end Milan came from 3^rd to secure a 2^nd place to consolidate a position in next year’s Champions League which they missed out last year. ITALIAN teams didn’t perform well this season, be it Champions league, UEFA cup or Serie-A for that matter. Many pundits termed Serie-A a boring and a weak league after none of the teams managed to secure a CL final or UEFA cup final berth. Serie-A is loosing its quality and if things are to improve, the teams have to really go out there and fight as they were doing in the 1990’s. Milan is back in the Champions League.

FIGO announced his retirement from football after INTER were crowned champions of ITALY. The Defense legend MALDINI will be missed a lot after sacrificing his life for a single club for 24 yrs. He is expected to coach the Milan youth system after a long vacation. There is no news on Portugal’s GOLDEN boy FIGO. He is expected to return to Barcelona to bid his fans a final Good Bye. He enjoyed 5 good years at Barcelona and also said “he never wanted to leave Barcelona for Real Madrid”. Milan is already in the hunt for Maldini’s replacement and the club is set to retire the No.3 jersey of maldini until his son plays for Milan.

BARCELONA-C|-|/-\/\/\P!O|\|$ of SPAIN

BARCELONA were crowned champions of SPAIN  after REAL MADRID suffered a shocking defeat against VILLAREAL, the team that delayed BARCA’s party last week.Villareal scored in the dying minutes to defeat Real Madrid by scoring 3 goals. Barcelona needed only 1 point, a similar situation back in England where Manchester united needed one point against arsenal to seal a 3^rd consecutive title and 18^th overall. But Barcelona won hands down without kicking a ball or stepping on the pitch. They will be celebrating their 19^th league title win before playing Real Mallorca. Barcelona managed to score more than 140 goals this season in all competitions, thanks to the services of  Lionel Messi, Henry, Eto’o, Iniesta, Dani Alves. The team was exceptional overall and without doubt has to be given a fair play award for playing football like “FOOTBALL”.

 

Barcelona is just 1 step away from securing a historic treble which no other Spanish team has managed to achieve so far. PEP GUARDIOLA and his men need to win the UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINALS to complete the historic treble which has eluded them for 3 yrs after failing to win the KING’s cup in 2006 when RONALDINHO was at NOU CAMP. Barcelona face the English champions Manchester United in the UEFA CL finals on May 27^th.Barcelona would be missing the services of Dani Alves, Eric Abidal (both suspended) and Marquez (injured).Henry and Iniesta are racing against time to play in the finals after both of them suffered a minor injury. Manchester united will be missing Darren Fletcher (suspended).Both the teams are in form and are ready to go head to head. Barcelona would like to get revenge after last year’s defeat in the semi-finals.

MANCHESTER UNITED-C|-|/-\/\/\PIONS OF ENGLAND

 MANCHESTER UNITED were crowned champions of EPL after they held on to a goalless draw against ARSENAL.MAN UTD needed only 1 point to seal a third consecutive title. ARSENAL had their chances of opening their account but the strikers failed to capitalize on their team efforts. Winning the league title for the 3rd consecutive time means that united have equaled LIVERPOOL's record of 18 league titles. Sir Alex and UNITED legend Giggs have 11 league titles under their belt. LIVERPOOL dominated most of the season but the no. of draws more than that of UNITED cost them the title which they very much longed for. Rafa Benitezis expected to shuffle the team by selling 11 players to bring in investments for new entrants.

CARLOS TEVEZ has denied playing for MAN UTD for the next season and is expected to play for LIVERPOOL, UNITED's rivals. Meanwhile it was another trophy less season for ARSENAL and it is expected that WENGER will enter the transfer market and hunt for some quality strikers and ADEBAYOR's replacement. EPL will never be the same again as lot of reshuffling is expected to take place. Its party time for MANCHESTER UNITED. Congrats on their victory.MANCHESTER UNITED face BARCELONA in the UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINALS on May 27th.Its going to be a cracker of a match as CHAMPIONS of SPAIN and CHAMPIONS of ENGLAND clash with one another.

 

Liverpool midfielder Gerrard voted writers’ player of year!!

London – Steven Gerrard has been voted footballer of the year by the Football Writers Association, it was confirmed on Wednesday. The 28 year old will be presented with the award at a gala dinner on May 29. It comes after a season in which his side have won nothing, but mounted a challenge for the Premier League title and reached the quarter-finals of the European Champions League.

 

“Steven’s performances this season have been one of the highest qualities”, said FWA chairman Steve Bates, chief football writer for The People. Ryan gigs, who was named players’ player of the year, finished second in the voting, with his Manchester United team-mate Wayne Rooney third.

Pakistan cricket team’s tour to Sri Lanka to begin on July 4!!

Pakistan would tour Sri Lanka to play three test matches and five one-day internationals in July. Besides the test and one-day series, Pakistan would also compete with Sri Lanka in a Twenty20 match on the tour, which is scheduled to begin from July 4^.  After a gap of nearly 20 months, Pakistan would be playing a full Test series, the daily times reports. Pakistan last played a proper bilateral Test series in India in 2007.

 

The first test will be played in Galle from July 4, the second from July 12 in Kandy, and the final test in Colombo from July 20. Both the teams would then move to the one-day format of the game, with the first three matches schedule to be played in Dambulla on July 30, august 1 and 3. The remaining two games of the five match series will be played in Colombo on 7 and 9 august. Colombo would also host the Twenty20 on august 12. (ANI) 

INDIA SQUAD - ICC T20 WORLDCUP 2009

The defending champions in world T20 cricket are now prepared to give thier best to hold thier champion position. The 15 man squad did not have many surprises but many deserving candidates could not make it into the squad as there were other extraordinary performers.

Both batting and bowling lineup seem to be strong for India and very apt for T20 cricket. Big hitters like Sehwag, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Yusuf, Raina etc can take the game away from opponents in few moments. Bowling is backed up by RP Singh, I Sharma, Z Khan and Harbhajan.With such a squad, everyone will expect an extra-ordinary performance at any stage of the game and lets hope for the best.

The squad:

M S Dhoni

Captain/Wicket Keeper
Batting Right-hand bat
Bowling Right-arm medium

Virender Sehwag

Vice-Captain
Batting Right-hand bat
Bowling Right-arm offbreak

Gautam Gambhir

Batting Left-hand bat
Bowling Legbreak

Suresh Raina

Batting Left-hand bat
Bowling Right-arm offbreak

Yuvraj Singh

Batting Left-hand bat
Bowling Slow left-arm orthodox

Yusuf Pathan

Batting Right-hand bat
Bowling Right-arm offbreak

Rohit Sharma

Batting Right-hand bat
Bowling Right-arm offbreak

Harbhajan Singh

Batting Right-hand bat
Bowling Right-arm offbreak

Zaheer Khan

Batting Right-hand bat
Bowling Left-arm fast-medium

Ishant Sharma

Batting Right-hand bat
Bowling Right-arm fast

Praveen Kumar

Batting Right-hand bat
Bowling Right-arm medium

RP Singh

Batting Right-hand bat
Bowling Left-arm fast-medium

Ravindra Jadeja

Batting Left-hand bat
Bowling Slow left-arm orthodox

Pragyan Ojha

Batting Left-hand bat
Bowling Slow left-arm orthodox

Irfan Pathan

Batting Left-hand bat
Bowling Left-arm medium-fast

AUSTRALIA SQUAD - ICC WORLD T20 2009

Cricket Australia (CA) has announced a 15-man Australian squad for Twenty20 World Cup 2009 that is scheduled to be held in England on June 5. The squad included paceman Brett Lee, all-rounders Shane Watson and Andrew Symonds.Nathan Hauritz was named as the specialist spinner in Australian side.

The squad is as given below

Ricky Ponting

Captain
Batting - Right-hand bat
Bowling - Right-arm medium

Michael Clarke

Vice-captain
Batting - Right-hand bat
Bowling - Slow left-arm orthodox

Brad Haddin

Wicketkeeper
Batting - Right-hand bat

Nathan Bracken

Batting - Right-hand bat
Bowling - Left-arm fast-medium


Nathan Hauritz

Batting - Right-hand bat
Bowling - Right-arm offbreak

Ben Hilfenhaus

Batting - Right-hand bat
Bowling - Right-arm fast-medium

James Hopes

Batting - Right-hand bat
Bowling - Right-arm medium

David Hussey

Batting - Right-hand bat
Bowling - Right-arm offbreak

Michael Hussey

Batting - Left-hand bat
Bowling - Right-arm medium

Mitchell Johnson

Batting - Left-hand bat
Bowling - Left-arm fast

Brett Lee

Batting - Right-hand bat
Bowling - Right-arm fast

Peter Siddle

Batting - Right-hand bat
Bowling - Right-arm fast-medium

Andrew Symonds

Batting - Right-hand bat
Bowling - Right-arm medium, Right-arm offbreak

David Warner

Batting - Left-hand bat
Bowling - Legbreak

Shane Watson

Batting - Right-hand bat
Bowling - Right-arm fast-medium