Sports

AMMAN — The final stage of the Jordan Basketball League starts on Friday when the top two teams start the best-of-seven playoffs for the title.

Orthodoxi play Riyadi at 5:30pm on Friday in the start of the final stretch for the title with holders Orthodoxi 2-0 down in the series. Riyadi ended Round 2 atop the standings after an unbeaten record in the two legs of the event. They beat Orthodoxi twice 73-65 and 81-73 and now need two more wins to snatch the title.

Riyadi had finished Round 1 in third place after Hurrieh and Orthodoxi. The team also lost the Jordan Cup at the onset of the season. However, they rebounded and reversed their Round 1 form and are now two wins away from the title. 

Despite the injury of centre Wisam Sous, who is out for the season, Riyadi beat Awdeh 86-61, Round 1 unbeaten team Hurrieh 73-67 and Orthodoxi 73-65. In Leg 2 they beat Awdeh 85-74 and Hurrieh 80-77. 

Orthodoxi hosted the West Asian Basketball Championship and failed to qualify. They fortunes remained the same in Leg 2 of the competition and they now need four wins to retain the title. Orthodoxi beat Hurrieh 78-58 and Awdeh 86-82 in Leg 1 and repeated them in Leg 2 beating Awdeh 74-67 and Hurrieh 67-52. 

Hurrieh and Awdeh will play the best-of-five play-off for third place. In Round 2 Awdeh beat Hurrieh 65-60 and in Leg 2 Hurrieh won 71-65.

Hurrieh had finished Round 1 with an unbeaten record, while Orthodoxi were second after they beat Riyadi. With teams like Applied Science University, Ittihad, Wihdat pulling out of the competition, Awdeh joined the top four. 

At the other end of the standings, Kufr Youba and Jalil held on to their spots pushing Ghazzet Hashem and Nashama to be relegated to Division 1.

The season started with Orthodoxi winning the Jordan Cup and aiming to retain the league title which they won for the record 23rd time last year.

Apart from Riyadi and Orthodoxi, leading clubs abandoning the game this season leading to major changes in the league. After winning the league four times, the last being in 2013 and 2014, both ASU and Ittihad disbanded their teams over differences with the Jordan Basketball Federation. Players were dispersed over the rest of clubs and new clubs with no fan base entered the competition in what has led to a sharp decline in the game locally and Jordan’s regional competitive chances.

ZURICH — New FIFA President Gianni Infantino wants players to become more involved in the running of the sport and has recommended a cautious approach to the use of technology.

Infantino, elected on Friday to replace Sepp Blatter, also suggested that football directors should behave “more like fans and less like politicians” and said his proposed 40-team World Cup would have little impact on the football calendar.

“It’s important that the players are involved because they are the stars of football,” he said in an interview on FIFA’s website, one day after taking charge of world football’s ruling body.

“They have to be involved in the decision-making process. We need to listen to the players, we need to listen to their voices, to their experience, to involve them in the activities we do.”

Infantino has inherited an organisation which has been plagued by scandals over the last year.

Several dozen football officials, including a number who held high-ranking FIFA positions at the time, have been indicted in the United States and Blatter himself has been banned for six years for ethics violations.

Infantino said the sport could not close its eyes to using technology to help referees, but had to be careful about interrupting matches too much.

Football’s rule-making body IFAB, at which FIFA holds four of the eight votes, will discuss on Saturday whether to authorise trials of video technology to help referees make decisions over questionable goals, penalties, red cards and cases of mistaken identity.

“It’s crucial to see what impact technology will have on the flow of the game,” he said.

“Football is a special game, it’s the most beautiful and most important sport in the world and we don’t have to kill football.

“If the flow of the game is guaranteed, then I think we need to see how technology can help the game, we have to start with tests sooner rather than later.”

Infantino also remembered the days in which he went to football matches in his oldest clothes, rather than a suit.

“Of course, when I used to go to a football match, I wore jeans and my worst shirts and now when I go to a football match I have to wear a tie and jacket,” he said.

“I think we need to change this and become, on our side as the leaders of the game, a bit more like fans and a bit less like politicians.”

The idea that football directors should be less formal was previously suggested by Jerome Champagne, a candidate in last week’s FIFA presidential election, during his campaign.

Infantino has proposed increasing the World Cup from 32 teams to 40.

“We give eight more countries the possibility of participating but many more teams the possibility of dreaming that they can qualify,” he said.

“I think it will have no impact on the calendar, but we need to discuss this and move forward from there.”

AMMAN — It’s Wihdat versus Faisali on Friday — the most anticipated match of the season — in the upcoming 16th week of the 64th Jordan Professional League kicking off on Thursday.

Wihdat are still in the lead, one point ahead of Faisali. The titleholders beat Hussein 2-1 to maintain their lead while Faisali beat Shabab Urdun 2-1 and jumped to second. 

Faisali and Wihdat both played the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup last week when Faisali were held 0-0 with Turkmenistan’s Istiklol Dushanbe in Group B while Wihdat started off with a 2-0 win over Bahrain’s Hidd in Group A, following their elimination from the Asian Champions League where they lost 2-1 to Saudi Arabia’s Ittihad Jeddah. 

Ahli are now third after they beat Jazira 2-1 and next play Kufrsoum while Shabab Urdun play Sarih. Asala scored their second win 1-0 over Sarih and next play That Ras, who were held 0-0 by Ramtha, who are now 5th and next play 6th placed Jazira.

Ahli are the surprise team of the league this season. After relegation to Division 1 in 2004 for the first time in their history, they were back among the Pro League clubs in 2014, and finished 5th in 2015. They have now made it to the Jordan Cup final against Shabab
Urdun on May 5.

So far this season, Jordan Cup titleholders Faisali beat league titleholders Wihdat 1-0 to win the 33rd Super Cup. Apart from conceding the Super Cup and elimination from the Jordan Cup, Wihdat now have the league title left for grabs. The team has been league champ for the past two consecutive years while Faisali finished at a disappointing 7th place as runner-up and third places went to Jazira and Ramtha.

Standings
(Previous position in parenthesis) 

MIAMI — The victory celebration over, new FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s first major decision in charge of the troubled world football organisation will be to appoint a secretary general, effectively a chief executive, to run day-to-day operations.

Since FIFA was founded in 1904, it has had 10 secretaries general, all from Europe, the game’s strongest continent.

At an event in London during his campaign for Friday’s presidential election, Infantino said: “I am convinced the general secretary of FIFA should not be a European. Why not an African?”

A source close to Infantino said on Monday that this “did not necessarily mean that an African would be chosen, more than he had not ruled out an African”.

That said, there would be a strong African contender in the shape of the Moroccan Hicham El Amrani.

The Paris-educated 36-year old became general secretary of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) on an interim basis in 2010 and was confirmed in the role in September 2011.

He had previously been deputy general secretary at CAF and worked for the Asian Football Confederation in competitions marketing. He graduated in 2004 from the FIFA Masters course, which was created to train future football administrators from around the world.

El Amrani won the Young Leader of the Year award in 2015 from the “Leaders in Sports” organisation partly in recognition of the way he handled the switch of the African Nations Cup to Equatorial Guinea after Morocco withdrew two months before the tournament because of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

“He is very, very capable,” said Swiss-based sports business consultant Joao Frigerio, who knows Amrani from the FIFA Masters Alumni Association. “There is no doubt in my mind that he can be a great general secretary.”

Amrani could not immediately be reached for comment.

Not rushing

Infantino said on Sunday that he would not rush into a decision about the secretary general, whose role takes on added importance in FIFA’s new, reformed structure.

Although some of FIFA’s reform documents refer to a “CEO”, a source within FIFA indicated that for “tradition reasons” the title of secretary general is likely to continue to be used.

Infantino might also look to North America, whose administrators played a key role in swinging votes to the Swiss at Friday’s FIFA Congress in Zurich.

US Football President Sunil Gulati is an economics professor at Columbia University and well connected politically in the United States.

This could be attractive to FIFA as it tries to improve relations with the US Department of Justice, which has charged dozens of football officials in the Americas with corruption, and is investigating allegations of bribery and corruption at FIFA itself.

A tweet from sports marketing executive Ricardo Fort suggesting Gulati would be a good choice sparked speculation in Zurich over the weekend.

Fort was until recently a senior vice president for sponsorship marketing with Visa Inc., one of FIFA’s global sponsors. Fort said his tweet reflected only his personal view, and Gulati was also not reachable for comment.

Although there is no obvious candidate for the role from Asian football, an Asian candidate might also appeal to Infantino as he seeks to build bridges with other confederations, especially after he beat Asian confederation President Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa to the FIFA presidency.

The earliest Infantino could present a nomination would be an executive committee meeting in Zurich on March 17, but he may decide to wait until closer to May’s FIFA Congress in Mexico City.

SACRAMENTO, California — Russell Westbrook had 20 points, 15 rebounds and 13 assists, leading the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 131-116 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Monday night.

Kevin Durant finished with 27 points, 10 rebounds and six assists as Oklahoma City bounced back from a difficult stretch. The Thunder had dropped four of five, including a heartbreaking overtime loss to Golden State on Saturday night.

Oklahoma City shot 57 per cent (47 for 82) from the field, including a 14-for-34 performance from 3-point range. Enes Kanter scored 23 points on 11-for-11 shooting.

Sacramento have lost three in a row heading into a four-game road trip. DeMarcus Cousins had 35 points and 12 rebounds, and Rajon Rondo finished with 11 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds.

Clippers 105, Nets 95

Jamal Crawford scored 26 points, and the Clippers beat the Nets to win their second in a row after alternating wins and losses in their previous six games.

Chris Paul had 23 points and 12 assists for Los Angeles, and J.J. Redick scored 19 points.

Brook Lopez had 25 points and 10 rebounds for Brooklyn, which were going for their first three-game winning streak of the season. Instead, the Nets lost their fifth straight to the Clippers at Staples Centre.

Cavaliers 100, Pacers 96

LeBron James scored 33 points after sitting out a game and Tristan Thompson made two huge plays in the final minute, leading Cleveland to the victory.

James was rested on Sunday by coach Tyronn Lue and the Cavs were lethargic in a 113-99 loss at Washington. But with James back on the floor, Cleveland played with much more energy and again looked like a team with NBA championship aspirations.

Matthew Dellavedova hit a tying 3-pointer for the Cavs with 1:13 left before Thompson made it 96-94 with a layup. Thompson then blocked a shot by Indiana’s George Hill with 18 seconds left.

Monta Ellis scored 28 points and Paul George had 23 for the Pacers, who lost their third straight but played much better than in a loss to Portland on Sunday.

Wizards 116, 76ers 108

John Wall scored 16 of his 37 points in the fourth quarter, helping the Wizards rally for the win.

Wall and Marcin Gortat combined for 14 points during a 16-0 fourth-quarter run in Washington’s sixth victory in eight games since the All-Star break. Gortat finished with 18 points and a career-high 20 rebounds.

Markieff Morris added 16 points and 13 rebounds in his first double-double with Washington.

Philadelphia played without rookie centre Jahlil Okafor, who was sidelined by a right shin bruise. But the 76ers had six players score in double figures, led by Ish Smith’s 25 points.

The 76ers were outrebounded 53-32 in their ninth straight loss.

Bucks 128, Rockets 121

Giannis Antetokounmpo recorded his second career triple-double with 18 points, 17 rebounds and 11 assists, and the Bucks outlasted the Rockets.

Jabari Parker scored a career-high 36 points for Milwaukee and Khris Middleton had 30 points.

The Bucks nearly blew a late 13-point lead after the Rockets put together a 9-0 run. After forcing a turnover, Houston’s Trevor Ariza was whistled for a five-second violation on inbounds pass with 20 seconds remaining.

Dwight Howard had 30 points and 13 rebounds for Houston, while Ariza had 20 points and 11 assists.

Grizzlies 103, Nuggets 96

Zach Randolph scored 22 points, leading Memphis to the road win.

Matt Barnes had 16 points for the Grizzlies, and Mario Chalmers finished with 15. Memphis won their fifth in a row against the Nuggets, including three meetings this season.

Kenneth Faried had 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Nuggets, who have lost five of six. Gary Harris added 15 points.

Newly signed JaKarr Sampson started in place of injured forward Danilo Gallinari, the Nuggets’ leading scorer who is sidelined indefinitely after severely spraining his right ankle Friday at Dallas. Sampson finished with seven points.

Celtics 100, Jazz 95

Jae Crowder had 22 points, and the Celtics extended their home win streak to 11.

Isaiah Thomas added 18 points and nine assists. Avery Bradley also finished with 18 points.

The Celtics went in front for good on a 3-pointer by Crowder with less than a minute to play.

Trey Lyles had 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Jazz, who have dropped three in a row.

Guard Damian Leonard scored a game-high 33 points Sunday night, and the Portland Trail Blazers used 3-point shooting as the catalyst in a 111-102 victory against the struggling Indiana Pacers in Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Portland (32-28), which have won 13 of their last 15 and 18 of 25, made 14 of 24 shots from 3-point range to sweep the two-game series with Indiana (31-28), which have lost three of their last four home games.

Wizards 113, Cavaliers 99

Point guard John Wall had 21 points and 13 assists as the Washington Wizards took advantage of LeBron James resting to record a 113-99 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday afternoon.

James missed his second game of the season and the Eastern Conference-leading Cavaliers (41-17) missed their leading man. The Wizards (28-30) led after each quarter and by as many as 30 points in the second half en route to handing Cleveland their second straight loss and third in four games.

Hawks 87, Hornets 76

The Charlotte Hornets have been better on the road of late, but the Hawks still have their number in Atlanta.

Centre Al Horford had his 200th career double-double and the Hawks took advantage of Charlotte’s early shooting woes for an 87-76 victory Sunday.

Horford had 16 rebounds to go with 13 points and the Hawks (33-27) won the season series against Charlotte with their 16th victory in the past 18 games against the Hornets in Atlanta.

Pistons 114, Raptors 101

Reggie Jackson led a balanced attack with 19 points and eight assists and the streaking Detroit Pistons shot a season-high 57.7 per cent from the field to overwhelm the Toronto Raptors 114-101 on Sunday at The Palace.

Centre Andre Drummond recorded his NBA-high 51st double-double with 15 points and 18 rebounds as Detroit won their fourth straight.

Magic 130, 76ers 116

Centre Nikola Vucevic and guard Victor Oladipo each scored 28 points while leading the Orlando Magic to a 130-116 victory over the lowly Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday night at the Amway Centre.

The Magic (26-23) led from start to finish in snapping a two-game losing streak. The Sixers (8-51) lost their eighth consecutive game. They never got close than eight points in the final period.

Mavericks 128, Timberwolves 101

The Dallas Mavericks understand that a big part of finishing among the top teams is taking care of the bottom-feeders.

The Minnesota Timberwolves qualify as the latter.

Small forward Chandler Parsons scored 29, and the Mavericks pulled away early and pounded the Wolves 128-101 Sunday night at American Airlines Centre.

Heat 98, Knicks 81

Heat guard Dwyane Wade continued his dominance over the New York Knicks, pouring in 26 points in Miami’s 98-81 win Sunday at Madison Square Garden.

It marked the 40th consecutive game in which Wade scored in double figures against New York — his longest streak against any team in the league.

Forward Joe Johnson made his debut for Miami, scoring 12 points. Johnson signed with the Heat on Saturday after the Brooklyn Nets waived him.

ZURICH — Gianni Infantino will mark his first working day as president of football’s governing body on Monday by playing in a football match with Swiss-based FIFA employees battered for months by an unfolding corruption scandal.

The match symbolises a return to the primary focus of FIFA that for some has been lost in tales of high-living by top executives and abuses that culminated in the banning of Infantino’s veteran predecessor Sepp Blatter for six years.

When he walks into the presidential office at FIFA’s headquarters on a Zurich hilltop, the new incumbent will quickly have to deal with financial and administrative problems, bring back sponsors, motivate a demoralised work force and engage with clubs and players who are growing increasingly disillusioned.

Previously general secretary of European football’s governing body UEFA, Infantino must also dispel the notion he was elected to represent only the interests of his own powerful continent. Some had expected a Bahraini rival to win the post in a tilt towards Asia for the sport.

FIFA has been the subject of criminal investigations in the United States and Switzerland, although these will be lurking uncomfortably in the background rather than an immediate worry.

The same goes for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, awarded to Russia and Qatar in a highly controversial vote in 2010 and the subject of the Swiss investigation.

One of the Swiss national’s earliest tasks will be to appoint a secretary general to take charge of day-to-day operations, a post Infantino has already indicated will go to a non-European.

Another priority will be to lift the morale of the 400-odd employees at FIFA, many of whom are highly-qualified and have soldiered on for the last eight months trying to ignore the chaos at the top.

“They went through a difficult time, a difficult period and I want to tell them that I count on them, that I believe in them and we will do great things together,” Infantino told a news conference after being elected.

Players’ discontent

FIFA’s lack of credibility has made it difficult to sign new sponsorship deals and it is facing a $108 million deficit for 2015, according to Suketu Patel, who sits on the independent audit and compliance committee.

Patel said there was a shortfall of $530 million between the budgeted revenue and actual contracts signed so far for the 2015-2018 cycle.

Jerome Champagne, one of Infantino’s four rivals in the election, has said that two of the eight sponsorship slots for the 2018 World Cup and 20 out of 27 slots for other competitions remained unfilled. FIFA did not comment on the figures.

Infantino will have to come good on the generous promises of development funds for FIFA’s 209 member associations made during his electoral campaign.

“The sponsors need to regain trust and confidence in FIFA and, if we can achieve this, then revenue streams will increase and FIFA will not have to worry about the future,” he said.

“I have vast experience in this area and my track record showed that UEFA didn’t go bankrupt at all, on the contrary revenue increased.”

He must also mend bridges with the clubs and players, who complained they were left out of the process which led to a sweeping reform package passed before Infantino was elected.

FIFA’s competitions depend on a delicate agreement signed with the clubs which release their players for national team games on certain dates stipulated in an international calendar.

The international players’ union FIFPro last year launched a legal complaint at the European Commission against football’s transfer system, which could have wide-ranging ramifications.

FIFPro did not even congratulate Infantino on his election, instead unleashing an angry statement saying it took a “dim view” of the whole process.

“FIFA’s system of governance has been based on favour swapping and financial inducements, not to mention obstructing external oversight from governments and the game’s key stakeholders,” said FIFPro.

“The players, much like the clubs, leagues and fans, were ignored in the latest reform.”

It added that the rights of the world’s 65,000 professional players were “often blatantly overlooked and exploited as a result of FIFA’s monopolistic structure”.

FIFA’s unity is another important matter.

Large parts of Africa and Asia voted for main rival Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa and even Infantino’s South American allies admitted there were issues over the drain of their top players to European clubs.

“We have told Infantino that clearly there are opposing interests because of the way the European market operates,” Uruguayan football chief Wilmer Valdez told reporters.

ZURICH — After 17 years under the all-powerful Sepp Blatter, a sign of the FIFA president’s newly diminished powers will come when Gianni Infantino’s salary is revealed.

The head of world football will no longer be the best-paid person in the governing body under reforms instigated to curb the president’s powers after corruption scandals that threatened FIFA’s existence.

Instead, Infantino’s No. 2 — a chief executive in an overhauled FIFA structure — will now receive a bigger pay packet than the president, a person with knowledge of the situation said on Saturday.

A three-man remuneration committee decided that neither Infantino nor his CEO should earn more than Blatter, who was reported to have earned around $6 million — a figure not denied by FIFA and which is likely to have fluctuated based on bonuses.

Infantino, the outgoing UEFA general secretary, plans to appoint a non-European CEO. As powers are separated across the executive, the Swiss-Italian will have no influence over commercial contracts so will not receive bonuses, the person said.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because FIFA salaries are not currently allowed to be discussed publicly. Blatter’s final day on the FIFA payroll was on Friday. Having joined in 1975 and spent 17 years as president until being found guilty in December of unethical financial conduct by the organisation’s ethics judge.

The presidency will return to the non-executive figurehead status long established before Blatter won election in 1998 and steadily asserted more control over FIFA. Under Joao Havelange, Blatter was in day-to-day control as secretary general.

Infantino, almost 35 years Blatter’s junior at 45, is seen as a cleaner new face of FIFA as it tries to protect its victim status in American criminal investigations into football bribery and racketeering.

Amid the reformist buzzwords drilled into the 209 football nations in several scripted speeches delivered by acting president Issa Hayatou at Friday’s congress, the message that FIFA must become a “strong and responsible organisation” was the loudest. The sign at the entrance featured the phrase “restoring trust”.

As a member of the reform committee established after the first wave of arrests of FIFA executives last May, Infantino has been at the heart of shaping the governing body’s new appearance.

Canadian Football Association President Victor Montagliani, who crafted the reforms alongside Infantino, believes Infantino will still be able to influence the management of FIFA as it tries to regain its credibility.

“This whole thing about power and the presidential office, that’s ancient,” Montagliani told the AP. “I think leadership is not about power, it’s about service. We are all servants of the game ... and I think there’s a generational change in the game.”

Reform committee chairman Francois Carrard, a former International Olympic Committee director general, acclaimed Infantino as the “most complete candidate” while cautioning that a new era should not be hastily declared.

“He’s a man of action, he’s a doer, not just a talker,” Carrard said. “If there was another president ... he would have to go through a learning curve he doesn’t need. He is an insider of the reforms.”

CAIRO — The Arab region squandered the chance to help elect their first FIFA president because their two candidates failed to cooperate, leaving the door open for Swiss Gianni Infantino to triumph on Friday, Arab football chiefs and pundits said.

UEFA’s Infantino got 88 votes in the first round, three more than Asian Football Confederation (AFC) chief Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa of Bahrain, while HRH Prince Ali of Jordan got 27 and Frenchman Jerome Champagne won 7.

Sheikh Salman would have had a better chance if his efforts were united with Prince Ali as Infantino won in the second round with 115 of the 207 votes, which was more than the required majority of 104, while Sheikh Salman got 88 and Prince Ali 4.

“Some countries gave promises but didn’t fulfil them. We are all Arabs, but unfortunately some support the other party [candidate] and we hope this changes in the future,” Bahrain FA President Ali Al Khalifa said in a television interview. “We as Arabs should unite our efforts and be clear with each other.”

“It appears from the first round that some countries have joined the other party [candidate]. We have now to look forward and help FIFA’s new president get [the world governing body] out of the current crisis,” he added.

FIFA was voting for a new leader amidst its biggest ever corruption scandal which has seen 41 people and entities indicted by the US Department of Justice.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) pledged its backing to Sheikh Salman while his AFC said it supported him but it seems some of those countries did not give him their vote.

“Africa has fulfilled its promises but it is clear that something happened with Asian countries and this was behind the final result,” Sudan FA President Mutasim Jaffar said.

“Sheikh Salman was depending heavily on Africa and Asia and the plan was to get 100 votes in the first round. He has to find out what happened to his home [vote].”

Second chance

This was the second chance for the Arab region to get a FIFA president after Prince Ali lost to former FIFA chief Sepp Blatter by 133-73 votes in the election last May, when Sheikh Salman announced his support for the Swiss incumbent.

Blatter, who was head of world football’s governing body from 1998, stood down four days after winning his final term of office last May and has since been banned from all football activities for six years for ethics violations.

“Arabs split as usual so a historic chance has been wasted and I think it will not come again,” Arab journalist Mustafa Agha tweeted. “Infantino won because the Arabs split. If there was cooperation we could have had an Arab president.”

Whilst cooperation between Sheikh Salman and Prince Ali could have helped the Arab cause in the election, they would have had to put aside past differences to achieve it.

When Sheikh Salman became AFC president in 2013, he made changes which in effect meant Prince Ali lost his seat as one of Asia’s representatives on the FIFA executive committee.

This lack of support continued when Sheikh Salman said the AFC would support Blatter against any other candidate in previous elections, including the vote last May.

Despite the failure of the region’s candidates to triumph in Friday’s vote their efforts were appreciated in the region.

“Thank you Sheikh Salman, you were a big competitor... and thank you Prince Ali for your courage. You both have opened the door for all to compete with the west,” Qatari sports magazine Estad Al Doha’s editor in chief, Mahed Al Khelaifi, tweeted.

Her Majesty Queen Rania also offered her support to Prince Ali, tweeting: “It’s not winning that makes a leader, but how committed he is to the game. @AliBinAlHussein you will always be a leading light on the field.”

AMMAN — In preparation for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, which will take place in Jordan from September 30 until October 21, its Local Organising Committee (LOC) will host marketing representatives from FIFA as they hold special workshops from Sunday through Thursday for official sponsors and cities hosting the tournament, according to a statment from the LOC.

The first workshop will target official sponsors in order to familiarise them with their entrusted roles regarding the successful hosting of the tournament. This will not only serve to elevate the tournament, but will also allow sponsors to reap the benefits of promoting their products, thus reflecting positively on all parties involved.

The second workshop will be attended by representatives of the Greater Amman Municipality, Zarqa Municipality and Greater Irbid Municipality — the three major host cities of the tournament. The workshop, which will address several key topics, aims at enabling officials to make use of this historic hosting in order to promote tourism in their respective cities. 

The workshop will discuss how best to promote their cities among the large numbers of incoming tourists and fans expected to attend the tournament along with the participating international teams, as this would present a golden opportunity for them to see the touristic and cultural attractions specific to each city. 

Moreover, the visiting marketing representatives’ programme will include inspection tours of the hosting stadia in order to assess their readiness to hold the tournament. The representatives will assess the stadia, including facilities for marketing activities and requirements, ensuring their adherence to all global requirements. 

“The preparation in Jordan is already highly advanced, and these workshops will play an important role in finalising the plans of our key stakeholders while bringing everyone together ahead of the kick-off in September. The FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup is one of the key events being held by FIFA in 2016 and I look forward to finding out how our sponsors will help to promote the development of the women’s game in Jordan and surrounding regions,” FIFA Marketing Director Thierry Weil was quoted as saying in the statement, 

As the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup nears preparations enthusiastically continue to ensure the delivery of a prestigious tournament on par with the highest standards of global sporting events, and in cooperation with public and private sector partners, said Samar Nassar, CEO of the LOC in the statement.

“The workshops that will be conducted by the FIFA representatives fall in line with our pursuit to fully benefit from their extensive expertise in the field of organising international sports tournaments, so as to contribute to building local capacities, skills and expertise in a manner befitting the magnitude of this global sporting event. In this way, we aim to reflect a positive image of a Jordan that is capable of hosting global events and international teams with great pride and warm hospitality,” he added.