Out of Africa

For the first time in history, the draws of both the African Champions League and Confederation Cup were held outside Africa

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Ahli and Ismaili are representing Egypt in the top two African club championships

CAF Secretary-General Mustafa Fahmi said it was a chance to conduct the draw in Zurich with delegates from 53 federations present. "It wouldn't be logical to ask these people or even the representatives of the clubs to travel again to Cairo after a long week here in Zurich, just for the draw. It would be a waste of time and money," Fahmi explained.

The eight teams in each competition were divided into two groups of four each.

Champions League

Group A: ASFAR (Morocco), ESS (Tunisia), Ittihad (Libya), JSK (Algeria)

Group B: Ahli (Egypt), Hilal (Sudan), EST (Tunisia), Asec Mimosas (Ivory Coast)

Confederations Cup

Group A: Sundowns (South Africa), TP Mazembe (RD Congo), Astres de Douala (Cameroon), CS Sfaxien (Tunisia)

Group B: Dolphins (Nigeria), Kwara Utd (Nigeria), Ismaili (Egypt), Merrikh (Sudan)

The group stage of the Champions League begins in June and the Confederation Cup in July.

The second leg finals of both competitions will be played in November 2007.

Ahli of Egypt is the current holder of the Champions League and ESS of Tunisia is the holder of the Confederation Cup. Ahli and Ismaili open their group debut at home and against two Sudanese teams Hilal and Merrikh respectively.

Ahli is then scheduled to meet Asec Mimosas of Abidjan in an away match in July then will host Esperance of Tunisia in Cairo for the third round.

Ismaili's second game is against Nigeria's Kwara Utd in Nigeria and the third against another Nigerian team Dolphin.

With regard to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the executive committee and the President Joseph Blatter underlined once again that FIFA has the utmost confidence in the local organisers. The declaration of support will be reiterated during a personal visit to South Africa by Blatter in mid-June.

The executive committee also decided to approve the staging of a benefit match between an African XI and a Rest of the World team in honour of Nelson Mandela. The match will be played in Cape Town on 18 July, the 89th birthday of the Noble Peace Prize holder and former South African president. Retired football stars from Africa and from all over the world will play.

For medical reasons and in the interests of player health, the executive also ruled that in future, no international matches may be played at an altitude higher than 2,500 metres above sea level.

In relation to the 'Football for a Better World' programme, the Executive Committee also approved various projects for the 'Win in Africa with Africa' initiative and the 'Football for Hope' movement. With this in mind, the committee also stressed that further, similar projects would be developed for other continents.

Furthermore, the associations of FYR Macedonia and Kazakhstan were given a deadline of 15 June 2007 by which to reinstate the leaders elected according to their respective statutes, and were warned that failure to do so would result in the FIFA Emergency Committee discussing the imposition of a suspension on the associations.

Further decisions included:

- The FIFA Executive Committee will designate the host country of the FIFA Women's World Cup 2011 at its meeting in Durban, South Africa in late November. The candidates are Australia, Canada, France, Germany and Peru.

- A number of additions to the Olympic football tournament regulations were approved.

- In accordance with Article 76 of the FIFA Statutes ('International matches and competitions'), the Football Association of Malaysia was instructed to cancel a friendly match against Manchester United that had been due to take place in Kuala Lumpur during the period of the AFC Asian Cup.

- The same association was given permission to hold the Champions Youth Cup from 5 to 19 August 2007.

- There will be an open invitation to tender for the 2010 FIFA World Cup hospitality rights. These rights are due to be assigned at the end of 2007.

- With regard to the television rights 2007-2010 for the sub-Sahara region in Africa (comprising 42 territories), the Executive Committee decided to push ahead with negotiations with the AUB (African Union of Broadcasting) with a view to reaching an agreement. Contracts have already been signed with ART for northern Africa and with SABC for South Africa.

- Amendments to seven articles in the FIFA Disciplinary Code were approved.

- Only players who have full nationality status will be permitted to play for the national team of the country in question.

- Wellington Phoenix, a club from New Zealand, were given permission to replace Knights FC, also of New Zealand, in the Australian A-League.