Barcelona, 22 of June.- Bojan Krkic, Lionel Messi and Carles Puyol are the three players that could win the first Fair Play award of the Barça Veterans (FC Barcelona Former Football Players) which counts with the sponsorship of Banc de Sabadell. The prize will be handed in to the FC Barcelona player that according to the voters, have had the most for play in the season 2009-2010.  People can vote until the 29th of July through the web www.premifairplay.cat.

Jury´s decission
On the 27th of May of 2010, the jury of the Fair Play Barça Veterans award meet to choose the 3 players with most outstanding behaviour in and outside the field:

BOJAN. Always at the service of the trainers, regardless of the minutes he can  playe. His priority has always been the group, teambuilding. Besides he is one of the players closest to the FC Barcelona supporters

MESSI. One of the best players in the World. He receives many faults but never gets angry of into fights with the player committing the faults. Besides, he does not complain to the referee, nor tease him.  For his behaviour and quality as player, he is much admired for his colleagues, opponents and supporters of different clubs.

PUYOL. The FC Barcelona captain is an example for the rest of the team. Not many players have the capacity to steal the ball from an opponent without committing fault. In 32 League games this year, he has only committed 24 faults, a record for a defender.  Further, everyone knows his identification with the colours and values of FC Barcelona.

The award
The winner will receive an award created for this ocasion by the artist Agustí Puig. Born in Sabadell in 1957, Puig is internationally known for his paintings anc engravings. The award shapes Puig´s vision of fair play: a system of values where the reason prevails on the impulse and therefore where the mind has an important presence.

To vote has a prize
A drawing will be held among the participants in the voting. The prices are a trip within Spain (and until 31st of December 2010) for 2 people to see a FC Barcelona game, a limousine tour in Barcelona and 2 Messi watches.

For more information: Oriol Garangou, communication manager Agrupació Barça Veterans (FB Barcelona former football players).
+34 93 496 36 20  /  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

The Polish team of former football players beat the German veterans team by 4-1 in a friendly game played on the 22nd of May 2010 in the Lechia Gdansk stadium.  For the Polish veterans scored Arkadiusz Bak, Cezary Kucharski, Jerzy Kruszczynski and Radoslaw Gilewicz. Lothar Sippel scored for for Germany. 

The match was organized by Polish Former Players Association (PSPB) and the Gdansk Town Council and counted with the participation of The Eagle’s Academy. During the break, the kids of this academy played a football match and presented their skills to the public

The IV EFPA congress EFPA (Sports Group of European Former Football Players Associations) was closed with great success in the city of Liverpool.

The congress started on Thursday 15th of April with a conference in which Sir Bobby Charlton was the main speaker. A happy Booby Charlton said ¨I am honoured to have been asked to address such a prestigious congress and talk about some very important issues surrounding former players like myself¨

A gala dinner was hold in the evening. During the dinner, Ramon Alfonseda, president of the EFPA had the change to award Bobby Charlton with the 1st EFPA ¨lifetime achievement in football¨ award which recognises Charlton´s contribution to football. Bobby. Bobby Charlton said to be ¨very pleased¨ with the award. Other celebrities that took part in the gala dinner were Sir Geoff Hurst, John Barnes and Terry Venebles. Pepe Reina, current keeper of Liverpool FC, offered two EFPA´s shirt to the oldest played of Liverpool and Everton.

The congress was closed on Friday 16th with the EFPA annual assembly and the first EFPA CUP, in which participated the EFPA team, and the former player’s national teams of England, Scotland and Ireland/Wales

Football legends including Terry Venables and Ian Rush will lead out some of Europe’s finest players at a star-studded 6-a-side tournament within the IV EFPA Congress in Liverpool next month

Former England manager Venables will lead the England team, Rush will manage Ireland/ Wales, former Scotland international Ally McCoist (awaiting confirmation) will head up Scotland while it is expected that former Italy boss and World Cup runner-up Arrigo Sacchi will lead the EFPA Team .

The I EFPA Champions Cup, which takes place at the Liverpool Echo Arena on Friday April 16th, is part of a two day annual Congress coming to Liverpool for the first time.

A host of legendary players will be jetting in from all over Europe to show off their soccer skills at the contest, which will signal the culmination of the two-day Congress and will take place on April 16 at 6.45pm.

These include former Danish midfielder Michael Laudrup and Portugese forward Ricardo Sa Pinto, Serbian centre back Miroslav Đukić, winger Steve McManaman, and ex Danish star John Lauridsen also form a strong European side.

Pulling on their football boots for England are ex Liverpool hero John Barnes who will be joined by his former team mate,  and former Everton favourite Peter Reid.

Ramon Alfonseda, a former Barcelona player and President of EFPA, said: “We promised world-class players and managers and it is fantastic to see this taking shape with a very strong line-up.

 “These sports stars are of the highest calibre and we are honoured that they are able to take part in our event.  We expect to announce the participation of more quality players very soon.”

Teams of former internationals will contest a four-team round robin completion with the two best contesting the first ever EFPA Champions Cup final.

Tickets are on sale now for the Champions Cup, £20 for adults, £10 for children, available at www.echoarena.com.  More information is available at http://www.efpa2010.com.

Last Sunday, two FC Barcelona former players, Joan Vilà and Pepito Ramos, were invited by EFPA member PSBP to address a select group of national Polish grassroots coaches to speak about the embedded social and educational values within training sessions for children.

Within the EFPA European cooperation network, Joan Vilà and Pepito Ramos, both former players and coaches, were welcomed in Warsaw by PSBP President, Dariusz Dziekanowski, and the Polish Minister of Sport,  during their stay in the Polish capital city. They were invited by the Polish Federation of Former Players, PSBP, to share their grassroots training expertise with a number of professional Polish coaches as well as other professional coaches, such as Kit Symons.

During their 2-day stay they also put into practise what had been discussed within the forum with the young footballers of Akademia Orlika, by coaching a special training session with a group of 25 young footballers aged 10- 12.

Dariusz Dziekanowski, a Polish former international player himself, led the creation of PSBP in 2007 and became the second National Federation of Former Players to be promoted by EFPA after the Spanish FEAFV.

The Sports Group of European Former Football Players Association (EFPA) has announced today that it will be holding its annual Congress in Liverpool, the first time it has been held outside its founding city of Barcelona.
The event will take place over the 15th and 16th April, and will feature the first ever European conference for former players to communicate the benefits to professional clubs of having a former players’ foundation.
Contributors will include Gordon Taylor of the PFA and a number of leading professionals from clubs and the business side of football.
Ramon Alfonseda, a former Barcelona player and President of EFPA said: “We are very pleased to be coming to Liverpool in April next year.  We are conscious that this is the 21st anniversary of the Hillsborough tragedy and we plan our own respectful tribute on the day.”
“Following last week’s decision to include Liverpool in the World Cup bid,  we will also be asking this ‘iconic footballing city’ to host the inaugural EFPA Champions Cup, which will be a former European players’ 5-a-side tournament at the Echo Arena on 16th April. We expect to announce the participation of some world class players in the new year, and we also expect to have some very exciting managers to be leading the teams.
“In world cup year, we will also be asking the schoolchildren of Liverpool to join us in a number of the events, and also to link hands with schoolchildren in Africa to recognise the connections we as a family of football have.”
Liverpool solicitor Laurence Lee, chairman of the Everton Former Players Foundation, which is a founding member of EFPA said: “This is a great honour for our city and I will be delighted to welcome EFPA for what I am sure will be a very memorable visit. The work they do for former players is moving and inspirational, and we plan to invite many of England’s and Scotland’s clubs to attend the conference, as well as a number of well known local former players.”

Mr. Antal Duani, Eduardo Juan and Dr. Gábor Hórvath.

Supported by the Hungarian FA and the Players Association, EFPA delegates arrived in Budapest to put forward its mission and objectives as well as to encourage Hungarian clubs to take the initiative and constitute the National Federation of Former Players. Eduardo Juan, EFPA's representative for National Federations, addressed a group of professional football club representatives at the seat of the Hungarian FA to explain EFPA's projects for the coming years and to set the first stepping-stone to the creation of the Hungarian Former Players Association.

Escorted by Dr. Gábor Hórvath, from the PFA and Mr. Antal Dunai, Vicepresident of the MLSZ, the attendants resolved to start working on the future Estatutes of the Federation so that it can be presented at EFPA’s 2010 EFPA Congress in April.